Mega Man Star Force: Rebirth
by Cross1412
Summary: An alternate story from the original source. What happens if Geo's dad didn't go to the Space Station? What happens if someone else becomes Mega Man? Watch (or read) Yusei Light as he becomes Mega Man and faces off aliens to protect the Earth, while at the same time, he has to deal with school. Inspired by the Star Force games with a mix of Kamen Riders and other superhero shows.
1. Yusei Light

Disclaimer: I don't own any Battle Cards and Star Force characters. I do own a few original characters.

Chapter 1: Yusei Light

The year is 220X, and technology have advance to the use of Electromagnetic Waves, or EM Waves for short. EM Waves becomes the central power, besides electricity, of the Earth. This causes the creation of the EM Wave World where the EM Wave Viruses live. The Wave World is invisible to the real world, which the viruses took advantage as they wreck havoc to people's technologies.

The people found a way to combat against the EM Wave Viruses, which is a portable terminal called a Transer. Transers are devices that allow people to connect with one and another to form a thing called Brother-Bands. Not only that; they can allow them to check their e-mails, newsfeed, and other things that involves the Internet. The Transers also uses the Battle Card system, which allows them to fight against the viruses.

This led the creation of the Satella Police. The Satella Police is a police force that specializes in fighting back against the viruses from the Wave World. They use special devices that only they can get ahold of to combat the viruses.

However, the EM Wave Viruses keep getting stronger and stronger, which becomes the reason why the Satella Police has the special devices for themselves. But can they stop the outside forces that want to destroy the Earth? There's actually one hero who can. And that hero is…

* * *

"Yusei! Are you finish unpacking your things?" a woman shouts from the downstairs living room.

The woman's name is Ayane Light and she's 25-years-old. She has fair skin and brown hair that reaches up to her shoulders. Ayane wears an orange shirt and black shorts. On her left arm is a green Transer.

Ayane and her little brother, Yusei comes from Netopia, a country far away from the town known as Echo Ridge, which is in the country known as Electopia. She and Yusei use to live in Echo Ridge seven years ago, but move to their uncle's place in Netopia after the deaths of their parents. Their uncle lives in Harmony Town, a small town in the western parts of Netopia. By the time that she's old enough and have enough money, she moves back to Echo Ridge with her brother.

She looks up the stairs waiting for an answer from her little brother. However, there's no answer. She then heard a knock coming from the front door. She knows who's knocking on her door as she opens the door to see a young man.

The young man looks about his teens and his hair is short, spiky, and brown. He wears an orange shirt that is unbuttoned to show his white shirt, black cargo shorts, and orange-black shoes. Around his neck is a string that acts like a necklace for a shooting star-shape pendant, a red Transer on his left arm, a small red box that is strap onto his belt, an orange backpack, and on his head is a pair of red tinted glasses. This young man's name is Geo Stelar and he's 14-years-old.

Geo greeted Ayane with a polite bow. "It's been a long time, Ayane! How's Yusei?"

"It's great to see you too!" Ayane greeted back as she hugs Geo for a second. "Yusei's fine. He's still in his room and he's pretty quiet. You should go check on him!"

He nods his head as he took off his shoes and headed up the stairs. He stops in front of a door that has a sign that says "Yusei's Room." He knocks on the door and asks, "Yusei, are you in there?"

No answer. Geo doesn't hear a single peep coming through the door.

He knocks again and his knocks are louder. "Yusei! Answer me! It's me, Geo! Your friend!"

He still hears no answer. Geo tries to check on the doorknob and with a single twist, the door's open. It seems like the door isn't lock to begin with. Once he walks in the room, he saw a person's back sitting in front of a computer.

Geo quietly sneaks up on the person to see that he's wearing earphones. He now knows why there is no answer; it's because this person isn't listening at all with those earphones on. He looks over the person's to see what Internet video he's watching on his computer. It's a live-action superhero show of a hero wearing a mask fighting against monsters that has the power to slowdown time.

He took a deep sigh as he yanks off the earphones off of this person's ears. The person turns around and asks, "Who did that?" The person notices Geo standing in front of him and now knows his answer. "Oh. Hey there, Geo!"

The person's name is Yusei Light; he's 14-years-old and the little brother of Ayane Light. Yusei has short brown hair. He wears a blue vest over a black shirt and white baggy shorts. A blue Transer is on his left arm and a small black box is clip onto his vest pocket.

"Have you not heard me knocking on your door?" Geo asks in an angry tone.

Yusei puts his computer to sleep as he happily replies, "I'm sorry. I just gotten hook on this superhero show and I really want to know how the story goes."

Both Geo and Yusei are best friends. They first met seven years ago, where Yusei quickly befriends Geo on the moment they look at each other. It causes them to form a Brother-Band, a bond that will never be broken no matter what.

Geo sighs and mutters, "You haven't change at all." He looks around Yusei's room to see a lot of posters, books, and DVDs of various superheroes. "This is no time to be watching superheroes! Come on, I've got to show you this awesome place to see the stars!" Geo drags Yusei out of his chair to downstairs to grab their shoes.

Before they leave the house, they heard Ayane shouting, "Yusei! Be sure to come back home before 11pm!"

"Okay!" Yusei replies and the two boys left the house.

* * *

The two boys walk down the street, where everything is in the darkness of night and the houses and streetlights are on. Then they start a conversation as they continue to walk to their destination, which is the place where Geo is taking Yusei. Geo asks Yusei about the seven years he spent while being at his uncle's place. Yusei told him that he's fine and made some awesome friends back at Netopia. He even tells a story that he and his friends once help a classmate of finding owners for baby kittens. Geo couldn't help but smile and listen to his friend's story.

Geo couldn't help but chuckle to see his friend smiling while telling his story. "You really have an amazing time in your uncle's place," he said, "I bet your friends are sad to see you leaving."

Yusei shook his head. "No way! They're probably throwing a party right now of me being gone for good."

"What makes you say that?" Geo asks with a tilt of his head.

Yusei laughs as if he's remembering a fun moment in his past. He answers, "It's because I'm so annoying to them that they really wish that I'm gone. I keep sticking in my nose to their business and they really get mad at me for that."

"That's the one thing you haven't changed." Geo is chuckling when he says that. He knows his friend's habit of helping people whenever they're in trouble with something and always found the solution.

"By the way, what have you done for the pass seven years?" Yusei asks out of curiosity.

Before Geo can say anything, he has been interrupted by a female voice calling out his name. "Geo! Geo!" the voice shouted as the two boys turned to where the voice is coming from.

They see a girl who has blonde hair that she styles it to be long and look like bunny ears with a drilled tip at the end of her hair. The girl wears a dark green sailor dress, a short red necktie, bright green pantyhose-like stockings, and dark green shoes. Standing behind her are two boys; one boy that is big bones and the other boy that is short as a midget. The big boy has short black hair and wears a yellow shirt underneath his brown vest, brown pants, and brown shoes. The small boy has brown hair and wears glasses, a white shirt, an orange necktie, a pair of green pants, and red shoes.

The girl looks at the two boys with a gentle smile and ask, "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at home? Also, who's your friend?"

Geo just sighs and rubs his forehead because he's getting a migraine for some reason. He replies, "Hey, Luna… This is my friend from seven years ago named Yusei Light. He just moves back from Netopia and I'm just showing him around. By the way, he's also the new kid transferring into our class next week."

The three teenagers are amazed to hear that from Geo. "So you're the new kid," said the big guy with a big smile on his face. "I'm Bud Bison!"

The short boy fixes his glasses and said, "I'm Zack Temple! Nice to meet you!"

"And I'm Luna Platz," said the girl in a haughty tone. "I'm your Class Representative. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Yusei nods his head. "Yeah, it is a pleasure." He turns to Geo and asks, "Are these guys your friends?"

Geo scratches his head. "Sort of… I'm more of an innocent bystander who gets drag along with whatever antics they do."

"Antics!" Luna gasps out of anger, which surprises Yusei. "What do you mean by that?"

"I say it what I mean," he retorts. "I remember back in elementary school that you drag me to help you win the Student Body President elections. You were such a slave driver back then."

Zack spoke, "But if it weren't for you, Prez wouldn't be able to win the election."

"Prez…?" Yusei turns to Geo when he asks about Luna's nickname. According to Geo, she got that nickname because she's the Class President and everyone keeps calling her that. "The history behind that nickname sounded ridiculous," Yusei spoke. "I mean it's like giving the name _Sushi_ to a fish or _Polly_ to a parrot."

Bud is cracking his fists as if he's ready for a fight. "Are you making fun of Prez's nickname?"

Yusei shook his head. "I'm not making fun of anyone's nickname! I just couldn't believe the students use such a simple nickname that could be easily confusing for other Presidents in the school. I rather stick with calling her real name than a simple nickname."

Luna calms Bud down to stop him from doing something that he would regret later on. She just chuckles and said, "Geo, you have an interesting friend here."

Geo chuckles as well. "Yeah, sorry about him. Yusei's thought process can be a bit erratic."

Then Luna spoke, "Geo, remember to go to bed as soon as you're done showing your friend around. You got school tomorrow, so it'll be a problem for me if you overslept."

"I don't need you to tell me that!" he retorts as he and Yusei watches the three teenagers walking away. Geo sighs as he regains his composure. He turns to Yusei and said, "I'm sorry that you had to see that. We should get going." Yusei nods his head as he follows Geo to whatever place he's going to show him.

* * *

The place they're in is called Vista Point. Vista Point is a large grassy field on a hill next to an elementary school. There is a large platform with a telescope on the edge of the hill, park-like benches, a statue of an atom on top of a pointy rock, and an old steam-power train on top of an unfinished rail tracks. This place is famous for people to stargaze into the night sky. Yusei and Geo both stand on the platform and look at the beautiful stars in the sky.

Yusei looks amazed as he turns to Geo. "This is awesome, Geo! Thank you for showing me this place!"

Geo chuckles and said, "I knew you like it. This is actually my favorite spot since grade school after you left."

As Yusei continues to be awestruck of seeing the stars, Geo opens his backpack and pulls out a belt. The belt is mechanically silver and on the buckle is a small green glass circle on the center. He also pulls out a case for a pair of glasses.

Yusei notices the things that Geo is pulling out as he asks, "What are those things you're holding?"

Geo first show Yusei the case. "This case holds something that my dad wanted me to give you."

He hands the case over to Yusei as he opens to see the contents. Inside the case is a pair of glasses similar to the one Geo has on his forehead, but it is tinted blue. Without hesitation, Yusei puts on the glasses and gasps to see through them. He sees the sky being covered in colorful roads that stretches as far as he can see. He takes off the glasses and saw the colorful roads in the sky are gone, but when he puts the glasses back on, he can see them again.

Geo explains, "The glasses is called the Visualizer; it's a special device that allows you to see the EM Wave World. My dad invented the one on my head just for me, but he made the second one for you."

"Thank you, Geo!" Yusei exclaims with a smile as he puts the Visualizer on his forehead like Geo.

Then Geo handed the belt over to Yusei as he said, "This belt is made by your father before he died seven years ago. My dad found it after he left NAZA that day."

Yusei becomes shock to hear that from Geo's mouth. He sadly looks at the belt and remembers that fateful day seven years ago…

* * *

Yusei's parents, Thomas and Marie Light, were workers of a space administration called NAZA along with Geo's dad, Kevin Stelar. The space station found a planet with life faraway from Earth's solar system and Yusei's parents and Kevin were chosen to be one of the workers to be sent into space to form a Brother-Band with the inhabitants of that unknown planet. However, Kevin chose not to go because he heard that his son, Geo is hit by a terrible illness. This causes Yusei's parents to be among the workers to be in the space station, Peace.

Once Peace made contact with this unknown planet, the space station met with a terrible fate. An explosion occurred and destroyed the space station along with its inhabitants. Months later, NAZA discovered a piece belonging with the space station and write off the workers, including Yusei's parents, dead. This fateful day causes Yusei and his older sister, Ayane to leave Echo Ridge to be with their uncle in Harmony Town. That day causes Ayane to be a better sister to take care of her little brother and Yusei to be a better brother for his older sister.

* * *

"Thank you," he said with a small smile on his face. Yusei puts on the belt and just happily stares at it. "Hey, are you sure that this belt was made by my father?"

Geo nodded. "My dad confirms it. He once saw your father making it in his laboratory before he went up into space. It is hard to believe that this belt was left behind for my dad to get it. Though he doesn't know why your father made the belt nor its functions."

"You expect me to know anything about this belt," Yusei replies with an eyebrow rose, "I was like seven-years-old during that time!" Then he puts on the Visualizer to see the EM Wave World and becomes amazed again. "This is a cool invention that your father made! I can tell that this invention would make things easier to see the viruses."

"Except my father only made two Visualizers," Geo make that snarky comment. Then two boys heard a beeping sound coming from Geo's Transer. Once Geo opens his Transer, he groans out of disappointment. "I'm sorry," he said, "it's a message from my mom. She wants me to be back home right now and it's only 8:30pm."

Yusei chuckles. "Just hurry home, Geo. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine."

"Are you sure?" Geo asks out of concern. Yusei nods his head with a smile that shows that he's sure. This causes him to be even more concern, but decided to leave because he knows how stubborn Yusei is when he makes up his mind.

As soon as he saw Geo gone from his sight, Yusei looks up the starry sky and the EM Wave World through the blue Visualizer. He couldn't help but to be amazed to see the beauty through the Visualizer. Yusei sat down on the platform's stairs and lie down to keep staring at the night sky. As he looks up the sky, he felt a cold chill in the air. He shrugs off the feeling and thinks the cold chill comes from the cold wind blowing at him.

He chuckles and said out loud, "It's kind of funny to think that seven years has pass and this whole city hasn't changed at all. Well, to be accurate, it's this part of the city that hasn't changed since I didn't look around very much. Regardless, coming back here do bring up my parents' deaths, but I can't be sad for that. Not when my sister is the one who took our parents' deaths very hard. I have to be strong for her sake."

Then he heard a beeping sound coming from his Transer. It didn't sound like he's getting an e-mail, but it sounded like a family member is closing in. Yusei knows Ayane isn't searching for him, but he does wonder why that beeping sound is active. He checks his Transer and he gasps whom is the family member coming close to him, which is his father, Thomas Light. The beeping sound gets louder and louder, which means his father's signal is coming even closer. Once the beeping sound stops, a blue beam stuck him over his head.

Yusei screams in pain from the moment he got hit. His body starts to spasms as if he felt electricity coursing through his body. He becomes unconscious and collapses on the ground. The electricity that courses through Yusei's body also flows into the belt as the green orb of the belt flashes for a moment. A few seconds later, his body stops shaking and he slowly regains consciousness.

"So this is Earth," said a male's voice. Yusei doesn't recognize that voice and he knows that is not his father's voice.

He opens his eyes and sees a green ghostly figure hovering over his body. The green ghost looks bulky and wears blue chest armor with shoulder pads, blue bracelets on both of its arms, and a blue dog-shaped helmet. Yusei jumps away from the ghost and quickly got up to look at it. He also notices that the ghost's helmet is actually its head because he notices the wolf-like mouth and red eyes.

Yusei asks in a stutter, "W-who or what are you?"

The ghost notices that Yusei is talking to it. It speaks in a male voice by saying, "You can see me? That's funny. Humans aren't supposed to be able to see energy beings like me…"

 _Can't see energy beings like him…_ Yusei figures out that it must because of the Visualizer that Geo has given him. He remembers that Geo told him that the Visualizer allows him to see the EM Wave World. So he draws the conclusion that the ghost he's seeing is made from EM Waves.

"Are you an alien or something?" he asks while showing his unwavering eyes at the ghost. "I'm pretty sure that you're no EM Wave Virus because you can speak to me without causing any sort of trouble."

Yusei wanted to confirm his theory that the Visualizer is the thing that makes him see the ghost. He removes the Visualizer and see that the ghost and the Wave World is gone; however, when he puts it back on, the ghost and the Wave World is back for him to see. This confirms his theory, but he's not sure why the ghost isn't attacking him.

The ghost spoke, "Now I get it… You can see my EM body with those glasses."

Yusei smirks. "Answer my question. Are you an alien?"

"Hey!" the ghost shouted out of anger. "Didn't anyone tell you that is rude to talk to someone like that? Then again, considering the circumstances, I couldn't blame you." The ghost sighs and he answers, "The name's Omega-Xis, but humans get it all wrong, so just call me 'Mega'. I'm from the Planet FM, so I'm what you humans call an 'alien', I guess."

"I knew it!" Yusei exclaims while he's pointing at Omega-Xis.

"But to me, you guys are the real aliens!" Omega-Xis points back at Yusei. "Normally, you humans can't see my EM body, which is made of electromagnetic waves, but somehow, I guess with those glasses, you can see the Wave World."

Then Yusei notices something weird when he listens to Omega-Xis talking. He asks, "You said that humans get your name wrong… Do you by any chance met any humans beforehand?"

"I did," Omega-Xis solemnly answers. "But first, are you Yusei Light?"

"How do you know my name?" Yusei gasps out of surprise. "I haven't even told you my name!"

He explains, "I kind of took a peek in your Transer when I came crashing at you. Also, two humans told me your name. Their names are Thomas and Marie Light, your parents."

"You're lying!" Yusei angrily shouted. "My parents are dead seven years ago! There's no way you met them!"

Then the two beings heard a train's whistle and a tremor, which interrupts their little talk. Yusei wonders what's going on, but Omega-Xis knew. Omega-Xis clicks his tongue and spoke, "Damn! They're here!"

"Who's here?"

He explains, "My pursuers!"

The two turns to see the train is off its tracks and park in front of the walkway that leads down the hill of Vista Point. Yusei wonders why the train moves because the train is too old to be moving due to the lack of fossil fuel, unless they're equipped with computers. He also knows that trains like the one park in front of him can't move off the rail tracks.

"EM Wave Viruses from the Planet FM," Omega-Xis spoke. "They're going to destroy the town with that."

Yusei turns to Omega-Xis because he's shock to hear that. "I can't let them do that!" he exclaims out of anger. "Ayane would be in danger if I let those viruses get away with the train!"

"Do you want to stop the train?" Omega-Xis asks.

"Of course! I want to protect my sister!"

Omega-Xis chuckles. "Your parents did tell me of how much of a hero you are. There's a way to stop that train. Go into it and delete those EM viruses!"

Yusei tilts his head. "Uh, I agree with the deleting part, but going inside the train sounds a bit iffy." Then suddenly, Omega-Xis disappears from his sight. "Hey! Mega! Where are you?"

"In your Transer!" said Omega-Xis voice coming from Yusei's Transer, which caught his attention. "Now listen up, kid. You want to stop that train, right? Then you do what I say, got it?" Yusei nods his head as his response. "You humans have those Battle Cards things, right?"

Yusei pulls out his small black box from his vest pocket. "Yeah, I have them inside this deck box."

"Then take out one of your blank Battle Cards," he suggested and Yusei actually did pull out a blank Battle Card. A blue beam came out of his Transer and hits the Battle Card, which transforms into a blue Battle Card with a shadow of Omega-Xis's head as the picture.

Yusei is amazed at this phenomenon. "Mega, what did you do to my Battle Card?"

Omega-Xis answers, "I power it up with my energy. Look, we don't have much time! I want you to shout 'EM Wave Change! Yusei Light, on the air!' and insert that Battle Card into your Transer!"

With a single nod, Yusei took his deep breath and makes a serious face. He shouted, "EM Wave Change! Yusei Light, on the air!" He swipes the blue Battle Card into his Transer and his belt began to glow. Yusei's entire body is engulfed by the belt's light.

His whole body starts to transform during the glow. When the light dies down, his clothing is different than he usually wears. He now wears a dark blue body suit, light blue boots that reaches up to his knees, a light blue gauntlet on his right arm, light blue shoulder pads, and a blue helmet with a red visor to cover half of his face. On his chest is a symbol of a shooting star, on his waist is the belt with his black deck box strap onto it, and his left arm shows that his Transer has transform into a light blue gauntlet with two red lines at the front.

"What in the world?" he gasps in shock to see his new look.

"Pretty cool, right?" said Omega-Xis. Yusei looks at his left hand and jumps out of surprise to hear Omega-Xis talking to him through the gauntlet. "Let me explain… You and I have been fused together to become a whole new EM Wave being. So now you can interact the EM Wave World as long as you're in this form."

"This is pretty cool!" Yusei exclaims out of excitement. "With this power, we can stop the viruses from taking over the train!"

Omega-Xis chuckles when he sees Yusei's enthusiasm. "Quick question, do you know how to fight?"

Yusei scratches the back of his head. "Does mimicking fighting styles from watching TV count as I know how to fight?"

"Close enough," he answers as he looks away from Yusei's eyes. "Yusei, we can Pulse-In to where the viruses are just by simply jumping at the train."

"Is that simple?"

Omega-Xis nods his head. "Actually, you just jump at the train and I'll do the rest."

Yusei nods his head. "Okay. Mega, I trust you!" Without any second to hesitate, he quickly runs towards the train and jumps. While he's in the air, his whole body begins to glow and he transforms into a blue ball that flies into the train's computer system.

* * *

Inside the train's computer Wave World has colorful platforms and roads in a light blue background. The platforms and roads look blocky and solid compare to the transparent ones outside of the train's Wave World. The blue ball appears hovering on top of one of the platforms that disperse and Yusei stands on top of the platform. Yusei looks around and he is amazed to see the train's Wave World.

Yusei asks, "Mega, where are we?"

Omega-Xis answers, "This is the train's Computer Space. In other words, we're inside the train's computer system. Those viruses have got to be around here, so let's find them and give it to them good!"

With a single nod, Yusei walks down the road straight into a large platform. When he arrives, he sees 12 small viruses that wear construction helmets with antennas and wield pickaxes attacking a small computer in the center. These small viruses are known as Mettenna.

"Mega," he spoke, "I found the viruses."

"Yes, I can see that!" said Omega-Xis in a sarcastic tone. "Listen kid, you have to fight them if you want to stop the train! I want you to point your left arm at the them!" Yusei follows his order as he lifts his left arm. "Now imagine your arm as a gun or an arm cannon."

Yusei imagines his arm as a weapon. His Transer transforms his left hand into a dark blue arm cannon, which surprises him. "What happen to my hand?" Yusei asks out of surprise.

"That's the Mega Buster," Omega-Xis answers. "Now try to imagine that you're pulling the trigger of a gun. Use that imagination for the Mega Buster!"

Yusei slowly aims the Mega Buster at one of the Mettennas as he imagines his arm cannon as a handgun. His heart is beating as if his heart is trying to break out of his chest repeatedly. As a sweat drop off of his face, he pulls the trigger and his Mega Buster fires a green energy bullet at the target Mettenna from behind. The shot hits the Mettenna, but from Yusei's perspective, the shot didn't hurt it much. The target Mettenna turns around and alerts the other Mettennas of his presence.

"Mega," Yusei nervously spoke, "The Mega Buster didn't do much…"

The 12 Mettennas line themselves up and they glare at Yusei. They raised their pickaxes in the air and slam them down to the ground. This caused a shockwave at the ground coming at Yusei. Once Yusei saw it, he quickly puts all his strength into his legs and jumps with all his might. However, much to his surprise, his jump reaches the height over three-stories of a building and he is flying over the viruses. He is able to land on a platform that is above where the viruses are.

"How did I do that?" Yusei gasps as he tries to keep his heart from going crazy.

Then Omega-Xis spoke, "I forgot to mention that when we fused together, your body's strength, endurance, agility, and reflexes are heightened. The reason why you jump so high is because of your heightened abilities from our fusion."

"That's good to know," he said with a bit of a sigh. "Mega, the Mega Buster didn't do much damage at the virus!"

"That's because you didn't charged that shot!"

"Charged?" Yusei repeats that word. "What do you mean by that?"

Omega-Xis explains, "The Mega Buster can fire a powerful shot when you build up the energy needed for that shot, which I will dub it as the Charged Shot. However, the Charged Shot would only take about eight seconds to build up."

"That's also good to know!" Yusei spoke in a sarcastic tone. "However, eight seconds isn't enough to take down 12 viruses! There has to be a quicker way to finish them all off!" Then Omega-Xis reminds Yusei about his other Battle Cards, which Yusei pulls one out of his deck box strap onto his belt. "Can I use my Battle Cards in our fused form?"

"Just do the same thing how you insert a Battle Card into your Transer."

Yusei looks at his left arm to see his Mega Buster transforms back into his left hand. "Battle Card! Sword!" he shouted as he inserts the Battle Card into his Transer, which causes left hand to transform into a short sword made of green energy.

He jumps down at the viruses down below and landed in front of them. He quickly runs up to them and uses his short sword to cut about two of the Mettennas. His sword is powerful enough to defeat those two viruses, however, the other viruses tries to attack him. He quickly reacts to their assault by jumping all the way up in the air.

In the air, Yusei pulls out a Battle Card from his deck box. "Battle Card! Gatling Gun!" he shouted as he swipes the Battle Card inside his Transer. His short sword transforms into a green Gatling gun.

He points the gun at the viruses. The barrels of the gun slowly spin until the spinning starts to speed up and the Gatling gun fires a barrage of bullets at the viruses. The viruses gasp and try to run away, but only four of them got killed. The recoil from Yusei's Gatling gun sends him flying a bit back, but he is able to land about a few feet away from the viruses.

Yusei pulls out another Battle Card. "Battle Card! Power Bomb!" he shouted as he swipes the Battle Bard into his Transer. His Gatling gun disappears as he regains his left hand with a silver ball wrap around his fingers.

The Mettennas saw the ball in his hands and quickly hides inside their helmets. Yusei tosses the ball at the viruses and when it hits the ground in front of them, it explodes. Once the smoke is cleared, Yusei is shock to see that the remaining Mettennas survive the explosion with the use of their helmets. The viruses stop their hiding and use their shockwave attack again. Yusei quickly reacted by rolling to the side to dodge the attack.

He pulls out another Battle Card. "Battle Card! Wide Sword!" he shouted as he swipes the Battle Card into his Transer. His left hand transforms into two-edged sword that is the same length as a short sword but wider and made of green energy.

Yusei put all his strength into his legs and started running towards the viruses. He's running in a blinding speed and cuts up five of the six viruses, thus leaving one left alive. Yusei switches his Wide Sword for Mega Buster and points it at the only Mettenna left standing. The virus gasps and waddles away.

However, Yusei charges up his Charged Shot and has his eyes lock on his target. The eight seconds of charging his shot is complete and he fires the Charged Shot at the virus's back. The Charged Shot has enough strength to delete the last virus, thus leaving Yusei to be the only one standing.

Omega-Xis chuckles. "You did better than I expected, kid."

"Thanks! I've been influenced by watching a lot of TV!" Yusei said it with a smirk. He turns to the small computer that the viruses were attacking and walks over to it. He started to hit the buttons on the holographic keyboard and mutters, "I wonder if I can take control of this train so I can put it back where it belongs."

After a few types, the train's computer Wave World started to shake and Yusei heard the train whistling. The train's computer space keeps shaking until he heard something clicks, which stops the shaking. Yusei wonders if the train is back on the tracks.

Then Omega-Xis spoke, "You've caught my interest. Think I'll hang around for a little bit longer! How you like that?"

Yusei is hesitant to have this EM Wave being staying with him. "Umm… I'm not sure about that… You did spoke about my dead parents, which I believe it's a lie, and I'm not sure if I can trust you. Give me a good reason why you want to stay with me."

"How can you say that about your parents?" Omega-Xis asks in a calm tone as if he's trying to understand him. "I thought kids like you are wishful to hear that your parents are alive."

"You thought wrong," said Yusei with a small smile on his face. "I have to accept my parents are dead so I can move on with my life! If I stay to be hopeful that they're alive, then a chain will stick my life to a heavy boulder! Besides, Ayane suffers the worst than me, so I have to be strong for her and for myself. So, again, you better tell me a good reason why you should stay with me?"

Then Omega-Xis asks, "What if I told you that more trouble will be coming very soon?"

"Trouble!" he gasps. "You mean like those viruses that were controlling the train earlier? There's going to be more trouble like that!"

"First, we need to get out of this train's Wave World. I like to tell you more when we have some more time, but you have a curfew."

Yusei wonders what he means by _curfew_ until he realizes it. "Crap! I have to hurry home or Ayane's going to be mad at me! Mega, how do we get out of this Wave World?"

Omega-Xis hums as if he's having some other thoughts. "I don't know… You're going to kick me out as soon as we leave this place. Also, how are you going to protect your sister from the dangers without any knowledge about them or the power to fight them off?"

Yusei growls when he heard that. It seems like Omega-Xis found Yusei's weakness: his desire to protect his sister. "Fine, you can stay in my Transer! Just don't act in front of my sister or else she questions me why I have an EM alien living in my Transer."

"You got a deal." Yusei can tell that Omega-Xis is smirking in his Transer. "Now time to get out of here. Just leave everything to me!" Without Yusei's notice, his body becomes transparent until he transforms into a blue beam that fire into the sky.

* * *

The blue beam hits the ground of the Earth and Yusei appears in his usual outfit before his transformation. He is amazed that he is not in his EM Wave form. He turns to the walkway where the train supposed to be, but he notices that the train isn't there. That's when he turns to the rail tracks to see the train is back in its place. He feels proud that he fixes the train before anyone noticing the train out of place after he left Vista Point. He then looks at his Transer to see the time and found out the time is 10 minutes before 10pm. He is shock to know the time despite that his curfew is 11pm and he quickly runs back home.

"Sis! I'm home!" Yusei yells as he barges through the front door of his home. When he walks into the living room, he saw his sister lying on the couch sleeping. "I guess she got tired of waiting for me," he said as he brushes his sister's hair with his hand.

He locks the front door, turns off the living room's lights, and carries his sister up to her room. After putting his sister to her bed, he went back to his room and changes into his dark blue pajamas. He says his good night to Omega-Xis as he removes his Transer and went to sleep. Omega-Xis appears out of the Transer and said good night to Yusei despite that Yusei may be out cold. Omega-Xis went back to the Transer and sleeps as well.

* * *

The next morning, Ayane walks into Yusei's room. She said, "Yusei, I'm going to work now. Be a good boy while I'm gone." She left his room for work.

When Yusei heard the door closed, he woke up. He changes out of his pajamas and into his usual clothing. He puts on his Transer and said, "Good morning, Mega."

Omega-Xis yawns. "Yeah, yeah. Good morning."

Yusei walks downstairs and into the kitchen to make some breakfast. He cooks a sunny-side up egg and two sausages. He scoops up a bowl of leftover rice from dinner last night. After he's done cooking, he sat on the couch with his food on a table in front of him and started eating while watching the news on TV. The news talk about a virus outbreak at downtown of Echo Ridge City, the Satella Police making some announcement about protecting the people from these virus outbreaks, and an idol, who Yusei doesn't know, has one of her songs top of the charts.

"You do the housework yourself?" Omega-Xis asks.

Yusei puts on his Visualizer to see Omega-Xis floating next to him. He answers, "Sometimes when my sister isn't around. I have to do the housework so I can make my sister's life a little easier." After he finishes eating his breakfast, he gasps because he remembers something from last night. "Mega, you told me that more trouble is going to come. Can you explain that to me?"

Omega-Xis sighs because he's hoping that Yusei doesn't remember what he had said last night. He reminds Yusei that he's from the Planet FM and the reason he got pursuers chasing him all the way to Earth is because he stole the king's special item called the Andromeda Key. The Andromeda Key is a device that controls the king's world destroying machine known as Andromeda. Omega-Xis becomes a warrior within the ranks of other strong EM warriors to get close to the king, which makes it a bit easier for him to steal the key. That is until a space station belonging from the people of Earth comes along and caused an enough commotion for Omega-Xis to steal the key under the king's nose.

Then he shows Yusei a red Transer and a blue Transer, which Yusei recognizes as his parents' Transers. Omega-Xis said, "I met your parents and they gave me their Transers to get to Earth. They told me to get to Earth to protect their kids, which are you and your sister. However, I have a hard time to get to Earth because the signal is weak from two children's Transers."

Yusei looks at the two Transers with disgust as he picks them up and turns them off. He takes the Transers up to his room and hid them under his bed. Omega-Xis is shock to see Yusei acting this way and asks him for his behavior.

"I don't want my sisters to get her hopes up because of these Transers," Yusei answers, "I too also don't want to get my hopes up because I already gone pass my five stages of grief over my parents' death. So in other words, I don't want to know your story about how you obtained these Transers. Though I'm more disturbed about this Andromeda weapon. If your pursuers are able to obtain the key out of you, would they destroy Earth?"

Omega-Xis nods his head. "Yes, they would. The Planet FM is a warring planet where the inhabitants fight each other. If they get their hands on the Andromeda Key, say goodbye to your Earth."

"Talk about something heavy," Yusei nonchalantly said. "I need some time to think. Is that okay?" Omega-Xis went inside Yusei's Transer as he decided to take a walk outside.


	2. Mega Man

Disclaimer: I don't own any Battle Cards and Star Force characters. I do own a few original characters.

Chapter 2: Mega Man

Yusei's walk led him to the downtown part of Echo Ridge City. It's a bustling part of the city with its large buildings, cars driving through the streets, and the many people walking pass Yusei. This is the liveliest part of the city of Echo Ridge City as he is amazed to look at the buildings.

Omega-Xis asks, "Aren't you giving me a tour?"

"Why should I?" Yusei bluntly replies. "I'm the same as you, Mega; I just arrive here with no knowledge of this place. Though I use to live here seven years ago, I never had been this part of the city before."

So they wander around aimlessly with not much finding an idea place to hang out and relax. Omega-Xis is interested in seeing humans interacting each other by talking or ignoring each other. Yusei couldn't help but smile to see that the EM Wave alien is interested in the human race. Then Omega-Xis saw something even more interesting, which is the monorail train. Yusei knew Omega-Xis is going to ask him to take him there, so he complies with his request and walks up to the station.

As he walks up the stairs to the station, Yusei notices a young girl looking at the station's directory screen on the wall. The girl wears a pink hooded jacket with two buns on the hood, yellow shorts, and blue boot-like shoes. The girl seems to be frantic as if she's having a hard time understanding the directory. Yusei's sighs and decides to approach the girl to help her.

Yusei asks, "Are you okay? Do you need any help?"

The girl looks at him with a surprise look on her face. Pink sunglasses cover her eyes so Yusei doesn't know her face, but he can see her dark red hair. She nods her head and answered, "Yeah, I need some help. I was supposed to take the train to the studio, but I don't know which trains that I should take. The train routes are so complicated."

 _Can't she use her Transer?_ Yusei thought as he notices the girl's green Transer on her left arm. "Why can't you use your Transer? Doesn't your Transer have a map that tells you which route to take for trains?"

She shook her head in response. "No, I didn't download an app for one."

"Then how do you travel around the city with no map or even taken a train?"

"My producer usually picks me up, but his car sort of broke down today. So I have to take a train. And in case you're wondering why I couldn't take a taxi is because my producer is kind of a cheapskate."

"Producer…?" Yusei gasps. "Oh, you must be an idol. Well, it doesn't matter if you're famous, I'll help you out. So what's the name of the studio?"

The girl becomes silent and just stares at Yusei as if she's suspicious of him. She asks, "Do you know who I am?"

Yusei tilts his head. "No, not really. Why? Are you famous or something?"

She sighs in relief. "I'm sorry for my behavior. I guess you really don't know about me. The name of the studio is WBG Studios."

He checks the studio's name through his Transer and found the address. Using the address, he found which train would take the idol girl to her destination. Fortunately it's only one train that can take her to WBG Studios and that train is going to arrive at this station in the next twenty minutes. He also notices on the directory that the train route to WBG Studios is also close to Times Square, a mall where his sister is working at. His sister works as a store clerk at the clothing section in Times Square. Yusei thinks to himself that he should visit his sister during her work, which he thinks may be fun for him.

After Yusei told the idol girl about the upcoming train, the idol girl thanks him. "Thank you! I'm going to buy myself a ticket!" When she buys her ticket, she notices that Yusei is also buying a ticket. "Huh? Why are you buying a ticket?"

"I'm going to visit my sister during her work," he answer, "And since your train is on route to Times Square, I thought I should accompany you as your bodyguard until I arrive at my destination."

"I don't need a bodyguard," she retorts with a pouting face.

Yusei chuckles in a kind tone. "Fine. Not as your bodyguard, but as your friend you want to kill some time with. Is that okay?"

"Friend?" The idol girl tilts her head. "Are you hitting on me?"

"Why would I hit on an idol or a girl who I don't know?" Yusei asks with a smirk. "By the way, I'm Yusei Light. It's nice to meet you."

The idol girl just looks at him with a smile and replies, "My name is Sonia Strumm, likewise." They shake hands as they walk pass security and sit on a bench until the train arrives.

* * *

Yusei and Sonia both got on the train as soon as the train arrives. They sit next to each other and started about some things in a whisper tone so that no one around them can hear them talking. Sonia started by asking, "So you really don't know who I am?"

"No, I don't." Yusei shook his head when he said that with a smile on his face. "I'm not into the trends like most people in the world does, so I'm not up to speed when it comes to famous people like you. Then again, how famous are you?"

"I'm famous all over Electopia, possibly Netopia and other places in the world," Sonia bluntly answers, which shocks Yusei.

"So you're that famous! Wow, I'm amazed that I don't know you." _Now that I think about it, the news did mention about a famous idol's song is at the top of the charts this morning. The famous idol's name is Sonia Strumm, ironic._

Yusei mentally slaps himself for being this stupid. He wonders if he's offending her because he doesn't know her. However, seeing her giggling means that she isn't offended. He finds that strange for a famous person to be acting, he always thought that famous people like being the center of attention. Sonia is different, but he couldn't figure out why she's different from other famous people.

"It's okay," she replies as she giggles a bit more. "It's kind of refreshing to talk to someone who just talks to me as a person instead of a famous person. Though the way you talk to me sounds like you have some experience talking to girls."

 _Is she thinking of me as a player?_ He mentally asks himself. "I do have some female friends before I move here, so I'm always good at talking to girls. However, I don't date my female friends because I only considered them as friends and nothing else."

Sonia wonders what he means by "before he moves here" as she asks, "Do you just got here?"

"Truth be told," Yusei spoke, "I use to live here seven years ago, but some incident happened and my sister and I had to move away. We lived at our uncle's place for a while until my sister had enough money for us to be living back to Echo Ridge City."

"What is that incident?" she asks as if she's prying out information from him.

Yusei couldn't help but feel like he's being interrogated by this girl's cuteness. He wants to make some friends, but he doesn't want people to pitied him and his sister because of their loss of their parents. He doesn't want to talk about it, but for some reason, he also doesn't want to be a jerk to the idol girl. So he becomes hesitant and doesn't know what to say, leaving a weird awkward silence between them. The silence is broken when the train slowly takes a grinding halt at the station of where Times Square is.

"It seems like I have arrive at my destination," said Yusei as he stands up from his seat. "It's very nice talking to you, Sonia. I have to get going."

Sonia grabs his arm that prevents him to walk away. Yusei looks at her as she asks, "Will we see each other again?"

He replies, "It's a small world, so yeah! We probably will see each other again!" His smile is enough to make her smile as well as she lets go of him.

Yusei walks out of the train with some other people. He turns around to see Sonia looking at him through the train's window. He saw Sonia waving a goodbye to him and he waves back, making her happy. Then Yusei gasps when he realizes that he didn't form a Brother-Band with her, but later realizes that it may be a bad idea to form a bond with a famous idol. He doesn't want to have people to think that he's in some sort of scandalous relationship with an idol who he doesn't know.

After a new group of people enters the train, the train's doors closes. Yusei stands on the station's platform as he watches the train moving, leaving the station. He just smiles as he watches, but then he turns away and headed down the stairs to get out of the station. As soon as he got on the ground floor of the station and walks outside, a loud explosion occurred above him. He looks up and he gasps to see the train that Sonia is currently on stops moving with smoke coming out from below the tracks. Yusei isn't the only one to notice something's wrong with the train, he looks around to see people looking at it as well.

"Yusei!" Omega-Xis yells through Yusei's Transer. "Put on your glasses!"

He puts on his Visualizer and uses it to see what's wrong with the train. When he did, he gasps to see EM viruses attacking the train on the Wave Roads. "Why are the viruses attacking the train? I thought they could only attack the Wave World inside the technology!"  
Then Omega-Xis spoke, "I did mention the trouble that comes with me stealing the Andromeda Key, right? The FMians will keep coming until they get their hands on the key, especially if it means that they have to wreak the city for it."

"Then we have to stop them!"

"Hold on, _we_? I don't remember you agreeing to work with me, and now you telling me that we should work together! Also, I thought you want to protect Ayane from the FMians' assault!"

Yusei cringes for a bit and looks down at his feet. "I know… But my parents always told me to protect the people that I cherish. Sonia, even though we just met, she's my friend and I cherish my friends, got it!"

Then they heard sirens coming from the distance behind them. They turn around and saw two ambulances, two fire trucks, and five police cars driving up to the area. Coming out of one of the police cars is a man, who is wearing a light brown trench coat over his white shirt with an orange tie and a pair of brown pants. On his head is an antenna that functions like a siren and on his left arm is a black Transer that only a member from the Satella Police wears. Yusei can hear one of the officers calling the trench coat man, Detective Copper and tells him about the situation.

After hearing the situation, Detective Copper orders his men to rescue the people inside the train and also to take care of the EM viruses that are in the area. Everyone follows his orders as the firemen gets their ladders up to the train to rescue the people inside and the Satella Police Officers bring out their special backpacks. With a push of a button, the backpacks summon antennas and the antennas create a sonar scan of the area of where the viruses are in the officers' Transers. The officers are baffled about their scanners showing a large amount of viruses in the area; however, from Yusei's perspective through his Visualizer, he can see about twenty to thirty viruses attacking the train.

Yusei started to shake out of the mixture of anger and fear; he's angry that he can't do anything to help and he's afraid that something bad may happen to Sonia. "I can't just stand here and do nothing," he growls, "Please Mega… I'll help you fight off against the FMians! I don't want anyone to lose their cherished people like I do!"

Omega-Xis can tell that Yusei is holding back his crying when he says that. He sighs and replies, "Okay, lets work together to save those people. But first, we must find a place to do an EM Wave Change."

Yusei looks around and found an empty alley near where he is. He walks inside the alley and looks around to see that there's no one around him. He pulls out the blue Battle Card from his deck box and shouted, "EM Wave Change! Yusei Light, on the air!" He swipes the card in his Transer and he transforms into his EM Wave form.

He looks up and saw a Wave Road above him. He quickly jumps on the Wave Road and follows it to where the viruses are attacking the train. When he arrives, he saw the viruses: Cannonbase viruses, Mettenna viruses, Zapace viruses, and McCleaver viruses. Yusei looks down to see the Satella Police Officers fighting off some of the viruses with use of Battle Cards, but with the lack of a Visualizer, the officers can't tell if they took them down. Since Yusei is a witness, he saw that the officers have taken some of the viruses down, which leaves about 12 viruses for Yusei to kill.

Yusei pulls out a Battle Card from his deck box. "Battle Card! Cannon!" he shouted as he swipes the Battle Card in his Transer. His arm transforms into a blue arm cannon, but much bigger than the Mega Buster.

He jumps at the viruses and fire five cannon shots at the viruses. Yusei has good aim as his five cannon shots hits two Mettenna viruses and one Cannonbase virus. The nine remaining viruses turn to him and try to attack him. However, Yusei is too quick for their attacks to hit him.

"Battle Card! Long Sword! Invis!" he shouted as he swipes the two Battle Cards into his Transer. His arm cannon transforms into a long green sword with a yellow hilt and his body disappears, which surprises the viruses.

The viruses panic as they become cautious of their surrounding. They waited for Yusei to appear, but they're all defeated quickly with a few slashes. Yusei appears in front of them with his eyes closed and all of the viruses exploded.

"That's all of the viruses," he said as he lets his guard down.

Omega-Xis gasps, "Kid! Behind you!"

Yusei turns around and saw a gigantic knight virus with a huge axe. The knight virus is called the Great Axe virus. The virus swings his huge axe at Yusei horizontally. He jumps away from the attack, but the Great Axe swing his weapon again in a vertical way like a hammer. Yusei dodges the attack again as he let the huge axe hit the Wave Road, which creates a shockwave for the train.

Then Yusei heard a girl screaming from the train. He looks at where the train and saw Sonia is being rescued by a fireman on the ladder. He gasps when he realizes that the shockwave made by the Great Axe virus causes the train to shake. The shaking causes Sonia to slip out of the fireman's hand and fall out of the train, which everyone gasps. Yusei quickly reacted by jumping onto many Wave Roads below him to quickly head down to Sonia to catch her before she falls. Omega-Xis quickly changes the EM Wave Frequency for Yusei's EM Wave form to be visible for every human to see. The Long Sword transforms back into his hand as Yusei puts all his strength into his legs for one final jump to reach for Sonia, which he is able to save in time as he carries her in his arms and landed on the ground where the people are staring at him.

"You're safe now," he said to reassure the idol girl.

Sonia looks at her hero who save her as if she's smitten, which is too bad that she doesn't know that is Yusei in his EM Wave form. She replies, "Thank you, but who are you?"

Yusei puts her down for her to stand as he decided to talk to Omega-Xis before he answers Sonia's question. He asks, "Mega, how did you do that? Making me to become physical to catch her?"

Omega-Xis explains, "I can change our EM Wave Frequency to make us physical to the Real World, which allows you to save her. I can also change our EM Wave Frequency again to make us go back to the Wave World."

Yusei is impressed to know that information as he turns to Sonia to answer her question. However, he hesitates to answer her question because he's afraid of the people around them; if they know his real name, the FMians would use his loved ones as his restraints to hold him down. He doesn't want to have the people he cherish to be involved in a battle, so he tries to think up a name for his EM Wave form. He looks at Omega-Xis and thought he should used his name for his EM Wave form.

"I'm Mega Man," Yusei answers with a smile on his face. "I have to take care of the remaining virus! See you later!" He jumps as Omega-Xis changes the Wave Frequency to go back to the Wave World, which surprises everyone who couldn't see the Wave World.

He went back to the Wave Road where the Great Axe virus is. The virus glares at him and attacks him.

He jumps away as he shouted, "Battle Card! Air Spread!" He inserts the Battle Card into his Transer as his left arm transforms into a blue arm cannon that resembles an air pump.

Yusei aims his arm cannon at the Great Axe and fires a bullet made of air at the virus. The air bullet hits the virus at the chest, but that shot didn't fazed the virus. The virus swings his axe at Yusei, but Yusei quickly ducks down to dodge the attack.

"Battle Card! Plasma Gun!" He swipes the Battle Card into his Transer as his arm cannon transforms into an arm cannon with a drill spike instead of a barrel. The arm cannon also has two small antennas that conduct electricity for the spike.

He fires an electrical plasma bullet at the virus. The bullet hits the virus's chest and it stops moving for a few seconds. Once the numbing is gone, the virus attacks again but Yusei dodges again.

"This virus is different from the previous viruses," said Yusei as he gritted his teeth. "I don't have any other Battle Cards that can destroy him completely. I need a more powerful Battle Card to beat him!"

His wish is granted as his belt's green orb started to glow. When he looks at his belt, the glowing orb stops glowing and a Battle Card pops out of the top of the belt. Yusei picks up the Battle Card out of the belt and looks at it. This Battle Card is different from other Battle Cards: yellow Battle Cards are regular Battle Cards, white Battle Cards are blanks, green Battle Cards are Navi cards, blue Battle Cards are Mega-Class Battle Cards, and red Battle Cards are Giga-class Battle Cards. However, this Battle Card's color is shiny gold and he doesn't know what kind of Battle Card it is.

"Yusei!" Omega-Xis yells. "Look out!"

Yusei gasps to see the Great Axe virus is about to attack him. He quickly dodges the attack and looks at the gold Battle Card. He swipes the Battle Card into his Transer and hope that this Battle Card does something instead of nothing.

A male voice shouted from the belt. The belt's voice shouted, "Finisher! Mega Kick!"

The belt's orb started to glow as electricity sparks on his right leg. Yusei has no idea what's going on with his leg, but then he remembers about an episode from a superhero show recently. He recalls a superhero finishes off his enemy with a kick. So he decided that do the same thing just like that superhero.

He jumps up in the air and dives down at the virus with his right leg sticking out for a kick. "Take this!" he shouted, "Mega Kick!" His diving kick at the virus's chest causes a crack on the virus's armor.

As soon as Yusei landed on the ground behind the virus, the crack started to grow all over the virus's body. Then the virus started to crumble from the crack and later explodes while Yusei isn't looking at the virus's defeat. He sighs in relief and just smiles as he turns around to see that the firemen have rescued all of the passengers from inside the train. He scans his surroundings to see that there are no more viruses in the area. With no viruses, Yusei quickly leaves the area and headed back home through the use of the Wave Road.

Omega-Xis is concern about his decision to leave without receiving any gratitude from the people. He asks, "Kid, you're not going back to get some thanks from the people?"

Yusei answers, "I think it's better not to do that because the Satella Police would only just arrest us. Besides, seeing the people are okay is more appreciated than receiving gratitude." With that said, they disappear into the blue sky of the Wave Road.

Detective Copper receives his report from the other officers that all of the viruses in the area are gone. After receiving the report, he orders his men to check on the people as he looks up at the sky. "Mega Man," he mutters, "What or _who_ are you?"

Sonia is in a dazed as she too looks up the sky. Her mind is filled with her blue hero saving her earlier, but she couldn't see his face through her hero's red visor. She wonders who Mega Man is, until she gasps and realizes the time.

"Crap! I'm going to be late!" She scratches her head out of panic as she wonders how she gets to the studio.


	3. Aftermath

Disclaimer: I don't own any Battle Cards and Star Force characters. I do own a few original characters.

Chapter 3: Aftermath

When he arrives back into his house and transforms out of his Mega Man form, he heard a doorbell rings. He answers the door to see a grown man and a teenage girl standing in front of him. The man is bald and wears a grey mechanic overalls uniform.

As for the teenage girl, she has short black hair and her front bangs has a white streak. She wears a black off-shoulder shirt over her purple long-sleeved shirt, black shorts, purple tights, and black combat boots. The girl is chewing bubblegum and she has face that says that she's disinterested on things.

Yusei greets them. "Hi, Mr. Gonzales! What brings you here?"

Mr. Gonzales is Yusei and Ayane's next-door neighbor. He's the first one to greet them when they arrive at their new home in Echo Ridge. Though Yusei wonders who the girl is.

"I'm here to introduce you to my niece," Mr. Gonzales answers. "Her name is Tama Watanabe and she's the same age as you. I want her to meet you yesterday, but she's a little shy."

The girl, Tama, glares at her uncle. "Shut up, old man! I'm not shy! I just don't like being friendly with the neighbors!"

Yusei chuckles. "You're a feisty one, aren't you?"

"Quit with the flirting, loser!"

Mr. Gonzales panics and decided to scold her. "Be nice to him! You're not going to make friends with that attitude, young lady!"

"Um… That's okay, Mr. Gonzales. I'm already used to people calling me mean names." Then Yusei notices a strange mark on Tama's wrist. He got a little curious as he asks, "Were you wearing gloves before your uncle drags you here?"

Tama notices what Yusei is talking about. "Oh, you mean this? I was just finishing up a maintenance work on my Mag Bike." Yusei tilts his head and Tama decided to explain. She said, "It is short for a Magnetic Bicycle; a bike that uses magnetic suspension on the wheels to make it easy for me to change them and lessens any sort of resistance that cuts down the bike's speed."

"So you're some sort of inventor?" Yusei asks.

"Yes," she bluntly answers, "Got a problem?"

Yusei shook his head. "Actually, I want your help on a special project that I'm working on. You see… I too am an inventor like you, so is that okay?"

Tama raises an eyebrow. "That depends on your 'special project'."

He replies, "Have you heard about Dr. Vega's Matter Wave project? She's planning to release her project onto an upgraded Transer-like system next year. I thought I could use that idea to make myself an assistant. I'm going to be busy soon and I need some sort of assistance to keep me updated on things that I would most likely ignored, even answer some of my calls. So I thought using the Matter Wave project to create an assistant to be the solution of my upcoming problems."

Tama's eyebrow twitches as she stares at him with disbelief. "You want to create an assistant from technology that isn't given to the public yet? That's an interesting project; however, the problem is the concept of the Matter Wave. How can you make it without knowing Dr. Vega's project?"

"Geo's dad may know it," Yusei spoke, "since he's one of the scientists helping out with the project. I could ask him about the concept of the Matter Wave and we can make my Matter Wave assistant. So, what do you say?"

Mr. Gonzales is happy to hear that Yusei is offering a request to his rebellious niece. He really appreciates how Yusei is such a nice guy and he hopes that he becomes his niece's friend. However, Tama doesn't seem a bit interested.

"Not interested," she answers as she walks away.

Mr. Gonzales panics again. "I'm sorry, Yusei. She can be impossible sometimes. But I do have to admit that your observation is good; Tama is good when it comes with technology."

Yusei chuckles and he replies, "Well, don't worry. I'm going to be her friend someday. But right now, I need to take things slow, okay?" Yusei watches Mr. Gonzales leaving and he closes the door. "Mega, I have some questions."

He puts on his Visualizer to see Omega-Xis floating next to him. Omega-Xis spoke, "Let me guess, it's about the enemy, right?" Yusei nods his head as the EM Wave alien explains, "I'm not sure what the FM King would send to claimed the Andromeda Key; however, I suggest that we must be prepare for the worst-case scenario."

"Worst-case scenario?" Yusei tilts his head. "You don't mean the FM King, right? Then that's definitely the worst-case scenario. Though I wonder what the king is like."

Omega-Xis answers, "King Cepheus, and yes that is his name, is a powerful king; however, he's extremely paranoid." Yusei asks him about the king's paranoia problem. "Ever since that he ascends to the throne after the previous king died, he becomes paranoid if other FMians would try to kill him for that position. It is because of that paranoia is the reason why that space station blow up that day."

Yusei cringes when Omega-Xis reminds him about the incident seven years ago. "Let's not talk about the space station. So King Cepheus has a paranoia issue… I bet one of his trusted companions would take advantage of his paranoia to do a crime that can never be forgiven."

"Actually… You're not that far off." Omega-Xis looks down at the floor as he scratches the back of his head. "Sometime ago, King Cepheus becomes so paranoid about Planet AM that he actually uses Andromeda to destroy the planet and its inhabitants."

The teenage boy is flabbergasted upon hearing this. "I can't believe it. His paranoia drags him that far to destroy an innocent planet. Wait… Is Planet AM innocent?"

The EM Wave alien being nods his head. "Planet AM is the sister planet of FM and they lived peacefully, unlike the warring planet. The only threat for the king would be the three AM Sages, but they left the planet before its destruction."

"Why would the AM Sages leave the planet?"

"Who knows," Omega-Xis shrugs. "All I know is that King Cepheus is a complete nut that has a hard time trusting people outside of his ranking officers. Then again, I stole the Andromeda Key right under his nose."

"Speaking of the Andromeda Key; why didn't you destroy it? I mean… you could put an end to the king's power by destroying his precious device that controls the weapon. Seriously, I would destroy the key if I'm the one who stole it."

Omega-Xis just smile. "I know destroying the key would stop the king's reign, but I just don't have the heart to do it."

In Yusei's mind, he quickly figures out Omega-Xis's motive for stealing the Andromeda Key; it's for revenge. Considering that the key controls a world-destroying device, it would mean that the user has the power to rule a planet or something. Though there is some questions that he has a hard time to figure out. Why doesn't Omega-Xis use Andromeda from the moment he stole the key? Why couldn't Omega-Xis destroy the key instead of keeping it and leading the enemy to an innocent planet? Also, what is his revenge? He really wants to ask the alien these questions; however, he chose not to force someone to answer his questions. It's because he wants to have some trust in this alien and hope he will be there to stop the alien to go on a path of killing his own kind.

"That's enough information for today," Yusei said as he scratches his head. "Let's EM Wave Change to prepare ourselves for the upcoming fight." He chuckles when he says that. "It's funny. I just got back from saving people and I want to prepare myself instead of resting. I must have video games in my head again."

Omega-Xis smirks. "Normally a human would become tired after EM Wave Changing; however, you don't seem to be tired. I wonder why."

Yusei tilts his head and replies, "That's a good question, I don't feel tired at all. Strange…" Then he shrugs it off as he pulls out the blue Battle Card. "EM Wave Change! Yusei Light, on the air!" After inserting the Battle Card into his Transer, his belt glows and he transforms into Mega Man. He warps out of the house and into the EM Wave World.

* * *

Yusei have been fighting against viruses near the area of his home. He wanted to get better at his Mega Buster as much as possible because he figures that drawing Battle Cards from his deck box would probably be an exploited weakness. Why? If the FMians saw him drawing out a Battle Card, they would either destroy that card or knock it off of his hand. So by using the Mega Buster only for combat, he could counter that weakness. However, after studying the power of his arm cannon, its power isn't enough to take down viruses with or without charging. One Charged Shot is enough to take down small enemies like the Mettenna, but anything larger than that took more than one shot. He also discovers that his arm cannon can do rapid fire, but it took longer than a Charged Shot to defeat a virus. He wonders how he can make use or improved the Mega Buster in battle, but he has no idea because he doesn't know the FMians' power.

Then it dawn on him as he asks, "Mega, are weapons the only way to defeat viruses?"

Omega-Xis answers, "You can use your fists and kicks to beat the viruses. With your enhanced power you can take down enemies, but you told me that most of your fighting skills came from TV shows."

Yusei can understand Omega-Xis's doubts on his fighting capabilities. However, he remembers the time when he used what he saw from television in a street fight back in Harmony Town. His reason why he got into a street fight back then was because he got stick his nose into his friend's street fighting business. His friend got into an unfair street fight and he sort of jump into help him. The last thing that he remembers after the fight was his sister scolding him for getting into a fight.

As Yusei is reminiscing his first street fight, a knight-like virus appears behind him with a long sword in hand. As the virus is about to strike at him, Omega-Xis warns Yusei that causes him to quickly dodge the attack. When Yusei saw the knight virus, he's thinking that he should try his hand-to-hand combat skills on the virus.

He goes into a stance that reminiscent to the tiger fighting style that he saw on TV. The virus swings its sword at him, but Yusei quickly moves to the left and claw-punch the virus's face. When the virus is wiping its face from the punch, Yusei took this opportunity to punch the virus in the stomach. As the impact of that punch is enough to make the virus to bend forward, Yusei kicks its face that causes the virus's deletion.

"Seems like close combat is very effective," he said as if he discovers the solution of getting rid of his weakness.

Omega-Xis chuckles and replies, "That's a good way of fighting. But I highly recommend not relying on hand-to-hand combat because most of our upcoming battles would require us to rely on the Battle Cards. The FMians aren't as weak as the viruses on Earth is."

Again, Yusei couldn't help but to agree with Omega-Xis. Even if hand-to-hand combat is effective for battle, but with the weakness of losing Battle Cards and a weak Mega Buster, he felt like he has no choice. Unless he figures out a way to timed his switching out of all the three to counter the problems. In other words, he must strategize each of the things he learn about his abilities and use them to his advantage.

As he's pondering on how to timed his switching, he notices that eight viruses surround him: two knights, two fiery boxers, and four bomb cannons. Yusei smirks and said, "Perfect timing! I needed some training dummies to help me with my problem. So get ready… because here I come!"

The viruses start their attack: the knights and boxers charge at him. Yusei jumps to dodge the attack and pull out the Gatling Gun Battle Card to use it and shoot at the four viruses. The bullets from the Gatling gun hit only the knight viruses. When Yusei landed, he realizes that bomb cannon viruses are targeting him and getting ready to launch their bombs at him. The bombs have been launch and Yusei quickly reacted by kicking the bombs back to where they came from. The bombs hit the cannons, but the cannons are left standing and are still aiming at Yusei.

Before Yusei is getting ready to move, the two boxer viruses appear in front of him and they both uppercut him at his face. Yusei felt the pain of two fiery fists at his face, but his face isn't burn by the punches. The Gatling gun disappears as he pulls out his Mega Buster and charged it while he's flying in the air. His Charged Shot is complete as soon as he hits the Wave Road and he immediately fire it at one of the bomb cannon viruses. That virus is deleted as Yusei pulls out another Battle Card.

"Now then! Battle Card! Ice Stage!" He inserts the Battle Card into his Transer as his left hand begins to glow light blue. He clenches his hand into a fist and punches at the road, transforming it into an icicle road.

The viruses are surprise at the sudden change of field as Yusei uses the ice to gain speed as if he's ice-skating. He charges at the remaining bomb cannon viruses; the first one got a right hook, the second one got a left straight, and the last one got a roundhouse. After Yusei did a few spins and stops, the bomb cannon viruses got deleted.

He turns to the boxer viruses as he pulls out another Battle Card. The viruses charges at him as he inserts the Battle Card into his Transer and said, "Battle Card! Ice Burst!"

The icy Wave Road explodes and destroys the remaining viruses. The Wave Road is still intact, while the ice around him is gone completely. Yusei felt real proud at what he did, while Omega-Xis is shock.

"Yusei," Omega-Xis spoke, "do you really learn fighting from TV? From the way that you were fighting earlier kind of made me wonder about that."

Yusei nods his head. "I watch a TV show about a superhero who is good at winging things to win some impossible battles with a quick use of gadgets and martial arts. So I guess you can say that I mimic his way of fighting as my own. Though I still want to experiment more on my timing skills."

Omega-Xis wonders if Yusei is lying or is telling the truth. Does Yusei really learn his fighting from television? Or is he fighting genius? It doesn't matter now. After witnessing the fight, he feels confident that with Yusei as his partner that they can't lose.

* * *

Yusei returns back into his house and transforms back into his normal self. He felt tired and sore from fighting viruses until the sunsets; however, he doesn't let the fatigue to get him. He looks at the time to notice that his sister is coming home in the next hour. He decided to kill the boredom by cleaning the living room before cooking dinner. Just as he is about to do the cleaning, he heard someone knocking on his door.

"Who is it?" Yusei asks as he opens the door. "Tama! What are you doing here?"

Mr. Gonzales's niece, Tama Watanabe, barges pass him without saying a word and quickly sits on his couch. Yusei finds her recent behavior to be rude as he tries his best not to get mad at her. After he takes a deep breath, he calmly analyzes her: he looks at her scowling face and he could tell that she's mad about something. He figures that the cause of her behavior is from earlier, when Mr. Gonzales introduces her to him. Since he remembers that Mr. Gonzales asks Yusei to be her friend, he should try and attempt it.

He approaches her and asks, "Why do you come into my house?"

"I got into argument with my uncle and I decided to hide here until he chills out." She didn't look at him when she bluntly answers his question.

"But why my house?"

"It's the last place he thinks to look," she said with a sly smirk.

Yusei looks at her in disbelief and he just feels disappointed in her. Omega-Xis whispers, "Are all humans like her?"

"No," he whispers back, "all humans have different personalities. Tama is just rude and cold-hearted."

Tama notices Yusei is whispering to his Transer. "Whom are you whispering to?"

Yusei gulps and nervously replies, "I'm sorry, I'm just talking to myself." He nervously chuckles, which causes Tama to raise an eyebrow. "So I hope you don't mind that I do a little cleaning here, okay?"

She just shrugs and lies on the couch. Yusei went to the stair's closet and pulls out the cleaning supplies: a vacuum cleaner and a rag. Tama watches him cleaning the living room and she wonders what happen to his parents. She knows that Yusei is currently living with his older sister from her uncle. At first she wasn't interested in someone else's personal life, but she got a little curious about his life. As she stretches on the couch, she notices a small picture frame on top of a drawer table. Just as when Yusei goes on wiping the countertops, she got up and looks at the small picture frame. In the picture frame is a young Yusei and Ayane with their parents smiling together.

Tama looks at the father, Thomas Light; he has short brown hair and slightly tanned skin. He wears a white lab coat over his green business suit, brown pants, and a red tie. Next she looks at the mother, Marie Light; she has shoulder-length brown hair and slightly pale skin. She too wears a white lab coat over her pink shirt and long black skirt. Looking at the picture, she felt like she knew who Yusei's parents and sister are, but she couldn't remember where she saw them.

After Yusei finishes cleaning, he quickly went into the kitchen and start making dinner. He decided to cook fried chicken, rice, and vegetable stew. As he's cooking the food, he heard a loud scream coming from the living room, which causes him to jump in surprise. He lowers the heating of the stove and quickly ran into the living room.

"Tama!" he yells. "What's wrong?"

Tama runs up to Yusei with a surprised look on her face, which caught him off guard. He notices the picture frame in her hand and wonders what in that frame got her to act like this.

"Are you and your sister really the children of Thomas and Marie Light?" she asks and Yusei nods his head as his answer. She begin to act like she's having a panic attack as she keeps breathing in and out to calm herself down. "I can't believe it! Your parents are the people who inspired me to continue my hobby!"

* * *

Tama explains her encounter with Yusei's parents, which is a couple of months before Peace was sent up into space. It was at a competition that shows off young and bright kids their inventions. Tama was among of the participants and her invention was magnetic gloves that could pull and lift metal with magnetic properties. Despite that her invention sounds cool and useful, she didn't get first place.

When she was about to give up, Yusei's parents approach her because her magnetic gloves fascinated them. They gave her some encouraging words that made her to continue her hobby of inventing. She was really happy to hear someone actually telling her to keep going because she was feeling a bit discourage when she saw the other inventions.

She remembers Thomas's words as he said, "Don't let the other inventions get you down. If you're an inventor, then be proud of your inventions and continue to improve. Being proud of the things that you invent shows how much love and care that you pour into."

It was those words that got her to continue to become an inventor.

* * *

After hearing her story, Yusei is surprise to know that she met his parents before their deaths. Though he still feel awkward when he saw her acting like a squealing fan girl, which destroys the image that he has of her: the image of a rude, cold girl who act tough because of some parental issues. Yusei wonder why he added "parental issues" for the tough part of the image. When Tama came back to her senses, she coughs and regains her cool composure. She felt embarrass about the way she is acting in front of the boy as Yusei just snickers out of amusement.

"You better not tell anyone about my behavior," she angrily said with a glare.

Yusei smiles and replies, "Don't worry, I just find that side of you to be really amusing and cute."

Tama's face became red with embarrassment when she heard him say that. "Jesus, do you always flirt with girls like that?"

"I couldn't help it… Ayane told me to be nice and compliment girls so they could be my friends." He always has this high respect for his older sister, so he always takes advice from her.

"Are you sure that she's not setting you up to get dates?" she asks as a remark, which causes him to cringe a little.

It never did occurred to him the possibility that his sister may be setting him up to get dates, but he rather makes friends instead of going on dates. "Well, it doesn't matter. I'm going back into the kitchen to finish cooking the food. You can join us for dinner, if you want."

"Huh? Is that okay?"

He nods his head. "It's okay. I made enough for three people."

Just as soon as he went inside the kitchen, Tama heard someone entering the house. She turns to see Yusei's sister, Ayane entering the living room with a tired look on her face.

Ayane groans, "Yusei, I'm home. You can't believe what had happened earlier: there was this traffic jam because of a train malfunction. I thought I was going to be late for dinner, but I'm glad that traffic resolved very quickly." Then she notices Tama in the living room and asks, "Who are you?"

Yusei introduces Tama to his sister and she quickly get along with her very quickly, though Tama couldn't handle Ayane's friendliness. When dinner is ready to serve, the three of them gather around the table and started eating and chatting a bit. During the time, Tama is wondering where she saw Ayane prior today; she just couldn't put her finger on it. Yusei notices her odd behavior and knows what she's thinking about. He made a sly smirk in his head and finds even more amusement at watching Tama trying to figure out where she saw Ayane.


	4. Jammer

Disclaimer: I don't own any Battle Cards and Star Force characters. I do own a few original characters.

Chapter 4: Jammer

Yusei is reading his book about technology and how to fix certain equipment and household appliances. Tomorrow is Yusei's first day at Echo Ridge High School and he already got his supplies ready. He's excited to be going into the same school where his best friend Geo is. He's also interested on what kind of people he's going to meet so he can become their friend. Despite his excitement for his new school, he sometimes misses his old friends back in Harmony Town.

He stops reading his book and turns on the TV to see the news. When he turns onto the news, the news started to talk about his alter ego, Mega Man. Ever since his appearance from the train incident back then, the news couldn't stop talking about his EM Wave form. In fact, he keeps spending most of his time as Mega Man saving people from the EM Wave Viruses' attacks, which cause the news to keep talking about him even more. He sometimes wonders if he should get use to his alter ego's fame despite that no one knows his real identity.

Then Omega-Xis spoke, "Kid, lets EM Wave Change right now!"

Yusei puts on his Visualizer to see Omega-Xis floating beside him. "Mega, why do you want to EM Wave Change?" he asks in a blank expression. He's lucky that his sister is at work or she questions why he's talking to thin air.

"To check if the FMians are here already," he answers. "Think about it, Yusei. As the days go by, the FMians could already be here waiting to cause some mischief for the humans."

He got up from the couch and brushes his hair with his hands. "Fine, lets EM Wave Change. But first, how big of a search do you want?" Yusei pulls out a map of Echo Ridge from his Transer and shows it to Omega-Xis.

Omega-Xis looks at the map and said, "A mile radius from your house should be enough." He disappears into Yusei's Transer as Yusei pulls out the blue Battle Card.

"EM Wave Change! Yusei Light, on the air!" he shouted as he inserts the Battle Card. His belt started to glow until he transforms into Mega Man. Omega-Xis changes their EM Wave Frequency and they jump through the house's walls and onto the Wave Road outside to start their search. However, something has just occurred to Yusei. "Hey, Mega! How are we going to find the FMians?"

He answers, "By going into people's Transers!"

Yusei gasps, "What! You want me to go inside people's Transers?"

"Yeah… Why? Is that a problem?"

"A huge problem!" he exclaims while still being shock. "Going inside someone's Transer is like what a hacker would do! Also, it's like I'm invading someone's privacy if I do what you'd said! I could get arrested!"

"You've been helping people as Mega Man," Omega-Xis points it out. "Considering that you have the power to interact both the Real World and the Wave World, that power can get you arrested by the Satella Police. However, you're not arrested because the Satella Police couldn't detect the strange EM Being in your Transer."

 _He has a point,_ Yusei thought in realization. _I see… If by chance the FMians went inside a human's Transer, then they won't be detected like Omega-Xis. If we go inside the Transers, we may fish out an FMian._ "I understand, Mega. Let's start the search!" He started moving again with a determined look on his face.

* * *

After two hours of going though people's Transers in a one-mile radius of Yusei's house, Yusei went back to his home and turns back to his normal self. He sits back on the couch with a scowl look on his face. "Man," he spoke, "we've search at least twenty people's Transers and we still couldn't find an FMian."

"I don't understand," Omega-Xis also spoke out of disappointment. "I thought the FMians are sure to be here."

Yusei picks up a magazine and starts flipping the pages with a bored look on his face. "I'm starting to wonder if the FMians really do care about the Andromeda Key that you stole."

Then Omega-Xis asks, "Yusei, can we check one more time?"

"To widen the search?"

"No, but I think we should search something else! Hurry! Lets EM Wave Change!"

Yusei sighs and pulls out the blue Battle Card. "EM Wave Change! Yusei Light, on the air!" He swipes the Battle Card into his Transer and his belt glows until he transforms into Mega Man. He passes through the walls and jumps onto the Wave Road outside and just stands there. "So where is to search now?

"Remember the incident where we first met?" said Omega-Xis. "Try and enter some technologies nearby and see if we can fish them out."

Yusei scans around the area and wonders which technology is the enemy is hiding. He notices a yellow car parking in front of a garage in one of his neighbors' home. He remembers about the viruses hiding inside the train when he first became Mega Man a long time ago and wonders if the enemy is hiding inside a vehicle's Wave World. He jumps at the car and Omega-Xis transforms his body into a ball of light that flies inside the car's Wave World.

The car's Wave World is in a bright orange background with the solid Wave Roads. Yusei appears on the platforms as he looks around the Wave World. As he walks down the straight path, he saw a strange person standing in front of a computer with a steering wheel and shift stick. The person is tall and wears a dirty brown armor over a dirty black bodysuit. There are spikes on the shoulder pads and an antenna on his head. His face is covered by skull-like mask that is black and his eyes are glowing red.

Yusei points his Mega Buster at the person's back and asks, "Who are you? Are you an FMian?"

The person turns around. "Who are you? Are you a car thief like me?"

"Car thief?" Yusei gasps. "You're stealing a car!"

"Kid!" Omega-Xis yells in Yusei's Transer. "That's a Jammer, a grunt that works for the FMians!"

The Jammer starts cackling. "I'm the first one who steals this car! I won't let you take it!"

Before Yusei can ask Omega-Xis about the Jammer, that said person immediately punches him in the face, which sends him flying. Yusei quickly uses his reflexes to land on his feet instead on his back. He fires off a few shots from his Mega Buster at the Jammer; however, his shots aren't even affecting him. The Jammer summons an arm cannon from his left arm and fires back, but Yusei dodges the attack.

"Battle Card! Sword!" Yusei swipes the Battle Card into his Transer and his left hand transforms into a sword.

He charges at the Jammer and attacks him with one slash, which left a scar on his chest. The Jammer turns around and fires at Yusei, but he jumps up in the air to dodge the bullets. Then Yusei dives down at the Jammer for another attack, which hits the Jammer's left arm and leaving a scar. The Jammer screams in pain and tries to punch Yusei. However, Yusei reacted and quickly dodge rolls to avoid the punch.

"Battle Card! Cannon Plus!" Yusei's sword transforms into a yellow arm cannon. He points his arm cannon at the Jammer and fires a shot at the Jammer's face.

The Jammer screams, "My face! I'm blind! I'm blind!"

Yusei smirks when he heard the Jammer screaming like a little girl. "Battle Card! Tail Burner!" Yusei's left arm transforms back to normal as a whip made of fire is in the palms of his hand.

With a single flick of his wrist, Yusei uses the fire whip to wrap up the Jammer's waist. The Jammer screams in pain from the burning pain of the fire whip. Yusei pulls the fire whip that sends the Jammer up in the air and slams him down at the ground. He does that again and later spins into a mini tornado that got the Jammer dizzy and keep telling Yusei to stop. Yusei answers the Jammer's request by letting go of the whip and sends the Jammer flying across the Wave Road.

"Time to finish this battle!" Yusei pulls out a gold Battle Card from his deck box and inserts it into his Transer.

The belt glows and the voice from the belt shouted, "Finisher! Mega Kick!" The belt sends sparks to his right leg.

Yusei jumps and dives straight at the Jammer who is trying to get up. "Take this!" he shouted, "Mega Kick!" He dives kick at the Jammer, which completely finishes him off in an explosion.

"Great job!" Omega-Xis said to praise Yusei for his victory. "Seems like you're in the same level to beat a Jammer at least."

"Mega, what's a Jammer?" Yusei asks out of concern.

Omega-Xis coughs as if he's getting ready to explain. "A Jammer is a grunt that works for the FMians. The Jammers are humans that EM Wave Change with the EM Viruses."

"I see… They're humans that EM Wave Change with viruses…" A few seconds later, his mind clicks and gasps in realization. "That Jammer was a human! Oh no! I hope I didn't hurt him too badly!"

"Don't worry, I'm sure he's fine."

"How can you be so sure?" Yusei yells out of anger. "I just go all out against a human! You didn't tell me that there's going to be this sort of danger!"

"That's true," said Omega-Xis in a calm manner. "The human that you fought is going to be fine because he's an unwilling host. If the host is unwilling to EM Wave Change or is force into an EM Wave Change, then the heavy damage the host received after defeat would only be minimum and they won't remember a thing that transpired during the fusion."

Yusei looks down at his feet with his hands trembling in fear for the unforeseen future that he may face someone with an EM Wave Change. "Even though you told me that… Mega, I just don't know if I'm up to face someone like that Jammer."

"Didn't you say that you want to protect the people you cherish?"

He gasps when Omega-Xis ask him that. "Yeah, but—"

"But nothing! Do you want unwilling humans to hurt the people on Earth without their knowing? Do you want to lose all your cherish people from the FMians? Well!"

Yusei didn't have an answer. He knows the risk when the FMians get their hands on the Andromeda Key, but he didn't want to fight innocent humans who are caught in the middle of the fight. He remembers that his parents made him watch superhero shows when he was young and they told him to follow their examples of morals and justice. Since Yusei keeps watching shows of various kinds of superheroes, he follows their examples of doing what's right and helps those in need of help just as long as it is within his power. In other words, Yusei doesn't have the guts to do the impossible if it comes to him fighting against a human who can fuse with an EM Wave Being.

"I understand," Yusei mutters. "I will stop the FMians! But in my own way!"

Omega-Xis wonders what he means by his own way. But he decided not to pry open whatever Yusei has in his head as he activates the Pulse-Out to get out of the car's Wave World.

* * *

Yusei returns home and he transforms back into his human self. As he is about to grab his laptop to do watch some videos online, he heard the doorbell ringing with a male voice saying, "Excuse me! I have a package for someone named Yusei Light!"

When he heard that, Yusei answers the door to see a deliveryman holding a box with both of his hands. "I'm Yusei Light," he said, "but I don't recall ordering a package."

The deliveryman chuckles and gently places the box down in front of Yusei's feet. "Well, I guess you can say that someone is sending this package to you. Please sign here." The deliveryman hands Yusei a small clipboard with a paper and a pen. After he signs the signature on the bottom, the deliveryman thanks him and leaves via his truck.

Yusei picks up the box and looks at its label. He is surprise to see his uncle's name on the sender's address. He wonders why would his uncle send him package after he settles down on his new home. So he brings the package into the house and rips off the brown wrapping to see a blue jewelry box. He opens the box to see a paper covering the contents of the box. He picks up the paper and reads the following:

 _Dear Yusei,_

 _I seem to have forgotten to give this box to you before you and sister left to go back to Echo Ridge. This box belongs to your father before he gave it to me when I last visited your parents before you were even born. This box contains your father's good luck charm that makes sure that the wearer is safe from bad spirits. Or so I believe._

 _The reason why I give you your father's good luck charm now is because I believe the time is right. This charm would prove to be helpful in the future, so be sure to wear it at all times._

 _Your Uncle,_

 _Theodore Light_

After reading the letter, he looks the inside of the box. Inside the box is a necklace that is attach to a small, blue star-shape pendant. He recognizes that this pendant is a Wayfinder; it's an item that represents an unbreakable connection, so as long as there are people who wear the same kind of pendants, nothing can drive them apart. Yusei hardly believes that this pendant is his father's good luck charm, but then again, he did have some friends who have some weird good luck charms than the Wayfinder. He puts on the pendant and just smiles when he looks at it.

* * *

In an abandoned factory that is outside of Echo Ridge City, two ghostly figures are floating in a huge briefing room. One of the ghosts is orange and wears red armor that makes him look like a bull and the other is light blue and wears white-blue armor that makes him look like a swan. The ghosts seem to be arguing with each other.

"Cygnus," said the bull, "I still say that we should fight this Mega Man so we can get our hands on the Andromeda Key."

"Taurus," the blue swan, Cygnus, glares at the bull. "How many times do I have to say it? We can't attack him blindly! We need to analyze his abilities so we have absolute victory!"

The two ghosts are actually EM Wave beings from the Planet FM. Taurus and Cygnus are both generals working for the FMian King; however, they're different when it comes to their job. Taurus is more reckless and focuses more on power, while Cygnus is more tactful. These two are always at each other throats because they hate each other's way of doing their jobs, but they have no choice when the King orders them to chase after Omega-Xis and get back the Andromeda Key. Despite they're under the King's orders, they still butt heads against each other.

"While you're wasting time by sending some pawns so you can have your analysis, the King would send in the reinforcements! This is just one guy and we can take him down!" Taurus grabs Cygnus by his long neck, but Cygnus manages to slip out of his grip.

In a comedic fashion, Cygnus pecks the bull at his forehead, which actually hurts him. "Have you forgotten how Omega-Xis single-handedly stole the key in the first place? He took down over a hundred of the castle guards and two generals, while the humans in that space station distracted us! We can't underestimate him and his human host!"

While the two FMians are arguing with each other, a small bird made out of EM Waves flies through the walls. The bird is black and looks a bit like Cygnus, but smaller. The FMians saw the bird as Cygnus chuckles to see it.

"Seems like my scout have returned," he said as he absorbs the bird into his body.

Taurus looks at him with a confused look on his face. "Scout?"

Cygnus sighs at how slow the EM Wave bull is. "Remember when I send out a virus so it can fused with a human to become a Jammer. I also send a scout to observe the battle between Mega Man and the Jammer. And in case if you're wondering how that battle went out, the Jammer lost."

"Sending that Jammer is pointless then…"

"Not necessarily," said Cygnus with a smirk. "Apparently, my scout eavesdrop the conversation between the traitor Omega-Xis and his host. It seems like Omega-Xis didn't tell him about the Jammer use to be human and his host is having some doubts about his work as Mega Man. Which means that is his weakness; fighting humans."

Taurus smirks as if he understands what Cygnus is saying. "So all we have to do is to find a host to take over and use them to our advantage, right?" Cygnus nods his head, as he is surprise to notice that the dumb bull understands what he's talking about. "Well, I'm going to find me a human right now!"

Cygnus stops him from leaving as he tries to reason with the bull. "You always do this, Taurus. You always do these reckless things without a single plan or a backup plan! At least try and work with me here!"

Taurus pushes Cygnus aside and replies, "While we wait for a plan, the King's reinforcements would soon be here! If they show up, then everyone in Planet FM and the King would start looking down on us! You can stay here to think of a plan, but I'm going to get the key back!"

With that being said, Taurus disappears through the wall, leaving Cygnus to his lonesome. However, he's not sad, he's glad that Taurus left. He knows that Taurus would just rush into battle as soon as he is given an enemy's weakness so he can overpower them. He thinks to himself that if Mega Man kills Taurus, then he gets more information on his abilities, which makes it easier for him to get the key. Cygnus doesn't care what happens to his ally, all he cares about is getting the credit for taking back the Andromeda Key.

* * *

In Echo Ridge City's Wave World, Taurus is roaming around the city to find a suitable host for him to take over. Taurus prefers to look for a host that is all about brute strength, so he is a little disappointed that the section of the city that he's roaming around is full of scrawny weaklings. As he wanders around the city, he comes across a public park. It is there that he finally found someone to be his host to fight Mega Man. That someone is Bud Bison and he is sitting on a park bench with a melancholic expression on his face.

Taurus decided to approach the boy as he changes his EM Wave Frequency to make himself visible to him. "What's wrong there, boy?" he asks.

Bud looks up and is surprise to Taurus floating in front of him. He asks, "Are you the Grim Reaper to take my soul away?"

"Um, no…" Taurus is confused why Bud asks him that question. "I just happened to see you looking sad and I got curious. Can you tell me why you're sad?"

* * *

Bud tells Taurus of what happened about at least four hours ago. It was during lunchtime and Bud was eating lunch with his friends: Luna, Geo, and Zack. They were enjoying their lunch, until an incident happened that made Bud to lose his mind.

As he and his friends were having fun talking about Mega Man, a male student from a different class was rushing to bring food to his football friends. That student accidentally bumps Luna, which made her spill her drink on her clothes. Luna screams in reaction and everyone, including the one who bumped her, turn to look at her.

The male student panics and quickly does an apologetic bow to her. He said, "I'm sorry! I wasn't looking!"

When Bud looks at that student making a goofy face at Luna, he immediately snaps and quickly grabs that boy by the collar. He made a face that scared the living daylight out of the student. "Look at what you did!" he angrily shouted.

Everyone gasps at what they were about to see. "Bud!" Luna yells. "Stop it!" Of course her words weren't getting through to him.

Bud punches the student in the face, which caused a few female students scream in horror. The student fell on the ground and Bud prepares to give him a good pummeling. However, Luna steps in, which Bud became surprise. He wonders why she was standing in front of him. That is until he had realized of his actions.

Luna clenched both her hands into fists and yelled, "Bud! Stop this now or I terminate our Brother-Band!" Everybody gasped at what she had shouted and it caused Bud to be shock. "You always do this! You quickly overreact and scared people with your big body! Do you know how much it worries me that you are threatening others for my sake! If you don't stop at what you're doing, we're through!"

* * *

After telling Taurus the story, Bud becomes sadder than ever. Taurus decided to use Bud's emotions to his advantage. If the FMian can sweet-talk this boy to EM Wave Change with him, then he has the power to beat Mega Man down to a pulp and retrieve the Andromeda Key. However, the chance that Bud would agree to do an EM Wave Change is slim because he knows that humans are hard to understand. This is odd for him to be using his head just to control one human. But he decided to take a chance and seize the opportunity.

"Hey, boy!" he calls for Bud's attention. "Do you want power?"

"P-power?" he stutters as he is confused on what he's talking about.

Taurus nods his head. "Yes, power! You must use that power to get back at that girl!"

Bud gasps in shock to hear that. "No way! I don't want power to get back at Luna! Luna is my friend and I won't hurt her!"

Taurus scoffs at Bud's response. "Didn't she just threaten you that she would cut off your Brother-Band? You try to use your power to make sure that no one messes with her and she makes that threat! I don't think that's how she should treat her friends like that!"

Listening to the FMian's reasoning, he's right. If Luna is truly Bud's friend, then she should have never threatened him before. In fact, she would have come and try to find him so she can apologize to him; however, she didn't find him. Bud has now drawn to the conclusion that Luna doesn't see him as a friend anymore and she may have cut off their Brother-Band. He feels angry as he allows his mind to be succumbed to his rage.

"What's your name?" Bud asks the FMian, which the FMian tells him his name. "Taurus, please give me the power. I'm going to show Luna that she should have never threatened me!"

Taurus smirks at what he just did. He actually convinces a human to take revenge against the person who wrongs him. With this, now he can retrieve the key and destroy both Omega-Xis and Mega Man for good. He went inside Bud's Transer as Bud's body is engulfed by a fiery orange aura. Bud later leaves the park via EM Wave World, thanks to the FMian.


	5. New School

Disclaimer: I don't own any Battle Cards and Star Force characters. I do own a few original characters.

Chapter 5: New School

"Yusei!" Ayane calls her little brother's name. "I'm going to work now! Are you ready for school?"

Yusei comes down the stairs with his green backpack and a strange pair of shoes in his hands. He puts on his shoes and runs pass his sister. However, Ayane stops him and reminds her little brother to kiss her on the cheek when he goes to school. Yusei reluctantly sighs and kisses his sister's cheek. He quickly runs out of the house with his sister waving a goodbye to him.

As Yusei begins to speed up his running pace, the soles of his shoes started to spout out hot air. The hot air started to help Yusei to hover-skate the ground, which is faster than his running. Yusei makes these weird shoes when he was in middle school. He calls those shoes, the Air Shoes and they can generate air-based propulsion after he runs at a certain speed. The propulsion system sucks in the air outside of the shoes and uses that air to make Yusei to hover the ground as if he's skating on air. Yusei can also turn them off with a push of a button from his Transer.

"Yusei!" Omega-Xis spoke. "What is school?"

"I already told you," Yusei responds with a smile on his face. "School is an institution where people can go and be ready for the outside world. Once they get an education and social skills for society, then they go out and get a job or do something for themselves. However, school isn't completely necessary to survive society."

"Then why are you going to school if you think school isn't necessary?"

Yusei only solemnly sighs. "I think you already know the answer to that, Mega."

Omega-Xis does know the answer all too well. He's been with Yusei for at least a week and he already knows much about his partner. Yusei has a sister complex; he wants to protect his sister and he wants to make her life easy. His cares for his older sister too much and that became the sole reason why he's attending school. He wants to get an education and makes some friends so he can make some money to help his sister.

"If you want money, then why not bust some viruses?"

During Yusei's time as Mega Man, he found when he defeated a virus; they leave out something like money or Battle Card data for him. He doesn't know why, but the data is useful. Battle Card data is a data that is trap in the user's Transer and if the user inserts a blank Battle Card, that Battle Card becomes that data. However, he is a little iffy from getting money off of defeated viruses, he isn't sure where the money comes from.

"Let's not talk about Mega Man's job, okay?" Yusei spoke and Omega-Xis becomes quiet. "You better promise me that you won't act up in class! Because let me tell you, school is freaking boring! I can imagine you complaining all the time during my first class! So please don't complain to me how boring school is!"

Omega-Xis grumbles. "I'm not making promises, but I'll try my best to keep quiet."

Yusei sighs and hopes that Omega-Xis does keep quiet for him. If Omega-Xis doesn't, then all of his new classmates would look at him with suspicion and he doesn't want that. Yusei just want to make some friends and hope that nothing bad ever going to happen.

* * *

Yusei arrives at Echo Ridge High School as he turns off his Air Shoes to walk nonchalantly pass the school gates. He looks around the five-story building and notices the students roaming around the school grounds. The students notice Yusei and they wonder who he is.

"Yusei!" Geo's voice calls him out from behind. "Your timing couldn't be any better!"

"My timing?" Yusei questions his best friend's words.

Geo smirks as he patted his back. "I promise your sister last night on the phone that I should show you around the school. I thought that you may end up getting here early and ended up getting lost."

For some reason, Yusei couldn't help but agree with Geo. If he did come early, he will end up getting lost because he is the new kid in school.

"Let's go to the teachers' lounge to meet your homeroom teacher," Geo happily suggests.

Yusei spoke, "What about my classroom?"

Geo scratches his head. "I'm not sure… Last time I check, your name is in the same classroom as mines. So I guess we're going to be classmates."

"Is Luna and the others in the same class as us?"

He nods his head. "Yeah. But be careful of Luna, she is in a bad mood since yesterday."

Yusei tilts his head. "Really? What happen?"

"She and Bud got into a fight," Geo answers, "Bud was about to beat up a student for spilling his drink on her. Luna stops the fight and sort of threatens Bud to stop or she cuts off her bond from him."

"Say what now?" Yusei gasps out of anger. "She threatens him just because of that! I understand her reason, but threatening someone is far worse than a simple beat up."

Geo sighs. "She knows and that's why she is in a bad mood; she just felt guilty for that threat she made. But never mind about that, we are wasting time talking about yesterday. Let's hurry to the teachers' lounge!" He and Yusei went inside the building.

* * *

Yusei and Geo arrive at the teachers' lounge. When they enter the room, they saw only one male teacher. The teacher has a brown Afro and wears a white lab coat over his yellow shirt, brown pants, and two-beaker bottles strap around his neck.

The teacher notices them and said, "Good morning, Geo. Who's your friend?"

"I'm Yusei Light," he responds with a friendly smile. "I'm the transfer student who's starting school today. And according to Geo, you're my homeroom teacher. Nice to meet you!" Yusei shook the teacher's hand.

"It's very nice to meet you," the teacher smiles. "My name is Mitch Shepar, or Mr. Shepar, which ever works best for you. Yes, it's true that I am your homeroom teacher."

Yusei couldn't help but ask, "What kind of lessons do you teach?"

"I teach science and math," Mr. Shepar answers with a smile. "Though my way of teaching is a bit… different."

"Different? How?"

Geo explains, "Mr. Shepar does his lessons through the use of stories. He makes learning fun for everyone to listen."

Yusei just smiles as he said, "That's interesting, though impractical. To do the lessons through the use of stories to make learning fun… I guess that means that you have kids."

Mr. Shepar laughs in response to his words. "How'd you guess?"

"It doesn't take an Ace Detective to know your life outside of school," Yusei cheerfully explains. "By making learning fun, you connect your way to the students' hearts just like you did to your children. It's one of the responsibilities for parents to do for their children and you applied that to your lessons. It's impressive, yet hard. I can imagine the complaints you must have been getting."

Geo shook his head. "Mr. Shepar doesn't have any complaints. In fact, all of the students who have him love him."

Yusei just solemnly looks at his friend and then sighs. "I'm not judging anyone. I'm just speaking whatever words are in my head. Mr. Shepar… I'll be looking forward for your lessons."

Mr. Shepar smiles at his words. "Okay. You're class is in 1-A, which is the room above us."

"Um, excuse me," a female voice spoke up from behind Yusei.

Both Yusei and Geo turn around as they saw a girl. The girl has short, dark red hair and fairly light skin. She wears a pink shirt, pink-yellow candy-striped fingerless gloves, green shorts with a white belt wrap around her waist, and blue boot-like shoes.

Geo gasps, "Sonia Strumm! No way! What's a famous person doing at our school?"

"To attend school," she answers, "My producer's boss suggested that I should go to school just in case I retired." Then she notices Yusei standing next to Geo who is waving at her with a smile. She gasps, "Yusei! What are you doing here?"

"It's great to see you too, Sonia." Yusei smiles at her without answering her question.

Geo glares at his friend. "Yusei, do you know who this girl is?"

Yusei nods his head. "Yeah. She's Sonia Strumm, a famous idol. Why?"

"How can you talk so casually to her? Also, you act like you have met her before!"

Yusei explains, "I sort of met her at the train station the other day and she looks like she is in need of help, so I help her."

Then Sonia added, "I was a bit suspicious of his action, so when I ask him if he knew who I am, he just told me he doesn't know that I'm a famous person."

Geo apologetically bows to her. "I'm sorry for my friend's rude behavior."

"No, that's okay." Sonia smiles as she looks at both Geo and Yusei. "It's kind of refreshing to meet someone who doesn't ask me for autographs or any idol-related stuff."

Yusei is impressed to hear her words. "You remind me of Ayane from way back then."

"Ayane? Who is she?" Sonia tilts her head.

"My sister, but I don't feel like talking about her right now. So which classroom are you going to be in?"

Mr. Shepar spoke, "She's going to be in the same classroom as you, Yusei. You can say that she's your classmate."

The school bell rings to signal everyone the start of school. Mr. Shepar takes his students to the classroom and during the time of their walk, all of the students they walk past are staring and gawking at Sonia. Both Yusei and Geo felt uncomfortable from the students staring at them because they're walking next to a famous idol. When they enter the classroom, they saw 16 students filled up 20 seats; there are three empty seats next to the windows and an empty seat in the middle of the room. Geo took a seat at the desk next to Zack and the window and Mr. Shepar stands next to his desk as he introduces the two new students.

Yusei starts the introduction by saying, "My name is Yusei Light! It's a pleasure of meeting everyone!"

Sonia added, "And I'm Sonia Strumm! Hello!"

The students begin to whisper to each other, though most of their whispers are their surprise that the famous Sonia Strumm is their classmate. Yusei couldn't help but chuckle as if he's amused at seeing his classmates' reaction. Then he looks at the empty seat in the middle and Luna sitting behind it; he figures that Bud didn't show up in time for class. He notices Luna's face is being whittled with guilt, but he couldn't make a face in front of his classmates. For that reason, he just keeps smiling until Mr. Shepar asks him and Sonia to take their seats; Yusei sits at the empty seat far back and Sonia sits in front of him.

"Now that everyone is here," Mr. Shepar said, "Let's begin class!"

Then Zack spoke, "But Mr. Shepar! Bud's not here!"

Mr. Shepar gasps as he scans the room for Bud and notices one empty seat in the middle. "Bud's not here. That's unusual… I didn't get a notice from his parents about him not showing up."

The teacher just shrugs and started class. Mr. Shepar starts off his lesson about Newton's Laws of Motion; however, the way he explains the lesson is the use of stories. He uses one of his stories about his children playing dodge ball against each other. The way he implies the lesson with his story actually got all of the students' attention as they are actually learning. Yusei is impressed on how he handles the lesson as he too is paying attention. Also, during the time in class, Omega-Xis fell asleep inside Yusei's Transer.

* * *

When the bell rings for lunch, the students in Yusei's class started to gather around Sonia. They ask her a lot of questions and Sonia could barely answer them without being bombarded another question. Yusei chuckles to see Sonia being surrounded by her fans.

"Yusei!" Geo voice calls him out. "Luna, Zack, and I are going to the cafeteria! Want to join us?"

Yusei nods his head. "Sure, I'm coming!"

Sonia notices Yusei leaving with Geo as she spoke out, "Yusei! Can I join you?"

"Sure," he answers, "Come join us!"

Sonia is happy to hear that as she quickly breaks away from the students and quickly follows Yusei and Geo. The students who saw the way that both Sonia and Yusei casually talk to each other are surprised. The male students are jealous at Yusei for acting close to her, though it's just their assumption, and the female students are just gossiping to each other about Yusei and Sonia's possible relationship.

The three students enter the cafeteria and quickly grab their food from the cafeteria lady. They walk up the table where Luna and Zack are sitting in. When Zack notices Geo and Yusei, he gasps in bewilderment to see Sonia walking behind them. Luna wonders why Zack is having a hard time breathing, until she saw the reason and she too gasps.

"Why is THE Sonia Strumm sitting with us?" Zack exclaims, which caught the attention of all of the students in the cafeteria.

"She asks me if she wants to join us. Is that a problem?" Yusei asks.

Everyone's eyes are wide in shock to hear what Yusei has just said. Zack shouted, "She asks you! How come she asks you?"

Yusei tilts his head. "I don't understand the problem of why some girl asks me to join us in lunch."

Sonia turns to Geo and asks, "Is he really serious?"

Geo shook his head. "He does understand, he just likes to mess with people's heads. Yusei is more objective to people, so he treats you the same as he treats his friends."

Sonia sits next to Luna, Yusei sits next to Sonia, and Geo sits in between Zack and Yusei. They eat their food and despite the fact that Luna, Zack, and Geo are nervous eating their lunch in front of an idol; Yusei tries to break the ice by asking Luna about her fight with Bud yesterday. Even though he knows it's wrong for him to pry information out of girl who is feeling guilty, he still felt like he should tell her something to get over her guilt.

Yusei spoke, "Luna… Geo told me about your little ordeal with Bud yesterday. Care to explain to me why you threaten him?"

Luna looks grim when she heard him asking her about yesterday's ordeal. She said, "I don't want to talk about it."

Yusei just solemnly looks at her and he retorts, "Threatening a friend just because he thinks the problem could be solved through violence isn't the right thing to do. I understand that you want to stop your friend from committing a heinous act that would get him into trouble. It's a good idea to tell him off, but threatening your friend would only break your only bond with him."

"How would you know?" She yells at Yusei and every student in the surrounding turn their attention towards her. "Don't act like you know everything!"

"P-Prez!" Zack stutters. "Please calm down! Yusei, please apologize to her!"

Yusei glares at Zack, which scares the short boy. "Why should I apologize to a failure of a class president? If someone like her just threatens a student who happens to be her friend, then I'm sad to say that I'm disappointed in her action."

Zack and the other students saw Luna is shaking out of anger. Zack turns to Geo and asks, "Please, Geo! Tell Yusei to apologize!"

Geo shook his head. "I'm sorry, Zack, but Yusei is a type who hates people making others cry."

Geo knows how much Yusei hates injustice. Back when they were kids, Yusei was able to stop some bullies from making a girl cry by calling the teacher as quickly as possible. Geo remembers how much Yusei pointed out witnesses who were watching the bullies and didn't do anything to stop them.

"Even though that he may be making Luna cry," said Geo, "he can sympathize with Bud after I told him about yesterday's incident. Besides, I don't think we can ignore the situation and neither does Yusei."

Yusei just solemnly glares at Luna. "It's true, I don't know everything. But what I do know is that you interpret his actions poorly. I understand Bud's action is wrong, but your action is also wrong unless you apologize to him. Hurry up and apologize to him before the bridge that holds your bond with him burns down and collapses."

Luna didn't say anything and she just storms out the room. Zack follows her as he tries to calm her down. Everyone looks at him and whispering to each other. Yusei can only sigh as he finishes his food. Sonia, who doesn't know what's going on, wonders if Yusei is going to be all right since people are talking about him and she imagines they're not talking anything nice about him. She wants to say some comforting words to him, but she doesn't know what to say to him.

"Never expected that from you, neighbor," said a rough female voice behind Sonia.

Yusei, Geo, and Sonia turn to where the owner of that voice is coming from. The owner of that rough-sounding voice is Tama Watanabe as she smirks out of amusement.

Sonia is surprise and asks, "Who are you?"

"Hi, Tama!" Yusei nonchalantly greets her with a smile.

Sonia turns to him out of shock that he knows who this girl is. "You know who she is?"

He nods his head. "Yeah, she's my next-door neighbor's niece. Her name is Tama Watanabe and she's really a nice person despite her attitude."

Tama slightly chuckles, though her expression shows her wariness. "I'm quite surprise that you can hurt a girl's feelings. I thought that your sister taught you to be nice to girls."

"There are times that being nice doesn't work with people who decided to run away from their problems," he said in a lighthearted tone. "Those kinds of people expect you to say some comforting words to move on, but they need to know what they did wrong through harsh words. People like Luna won't face their mistake if I say some nice things that makes them think it's not their fault."

Geo chuckles. "You still have that harsh tongue of yours. Its still feels kind of weird seeing that side of you again, even after seven years."

"Though I'm more surprise to see you sitting next to a famous idol. I wonder how you convince her to sit next to you." Tama is having fun prying information out of Yusei because she wants to see him to act nervous and panics to convince her that there's no scandal between him and the idol.

However, she never expected him to keep his cool as Yusei replies, "Well, she asks me if she wants to join us and I allow her to join as an act of kindness. Besides, we're both new students and I thought that we new students should help each other out."

 _It's amazing that he still keeps a straight face while saying that_ … is what Tama thought. Her expectations of Yusei's reaction are way too high. She decided to change the subject by asking, "Have you guys heard the latest news that has been going around town recently?"

Yusei has no idea what she's talking about, but Geo knows. He explains to Yusei by saying, "She's talking about the news of a store that got wreck by a red bull yesterday. The storeowner was about to closed his store for the night, but a red bull came out of nowhere and make a huge mess of it."

"Is the store by any chance a china shop?" Yusei asks as if he's making a joke of it.

"No," Geo answers, "It's a hardware store, nothing more and nothing less. Though that red bull only destroy a few walls and equipment, the storeowner didn't got hurt."

"That's good to know," he said with a smile.

Then the bell rings for the end of lunch. As they're about to leave the cafeteria, Sonia turns to Tama and shakes her hand. She said, "Even though Yusei introduce you and you know who I am, I thought that I should introduce myself. I'm Sonia Strumm and I hope we get along."

Tama coolly smiles and replies, "Likewise, I hope we do get along."

Yusei, Sonia, and Geo watch her walk away as Sonia and Geo thinks how cool she is. However, Yusei, on the other hand, knows that she's actually happy to shake hands with an idol. He joyfully snickers that his friends didn't know that Tama is putting up a façade.

* * *

School is over as Yusei and Geo are walking towards Bud's place to see how he is doing. Sonia couldn't join them because of her idol work; the secretary of her production company picks her up. As they approach a yellow house with a brown rooftop, they notice Luna and Zack talking to an old woman in front of the house. Yusei guess that old woman to be Bud's mom as he and Geo hides behind a nearby tree to eavesdrop on their conversation. Despite that he knows that hiding is kind of a stupid thing to do, he just doesn't want to deal with Luna's drama.

"I'm sorry," said Bud's mom, "but my son didn't come home since yesterday. I'm worried because this isn't like Bud to not come home without eating food. Luna, do you know why Bud didn't come home?"

"I don't know, Mrs. Bison," she answers and her tone sounded guilty and sad. Then she put up a strong face and said, "But don't you worry! I, the Class President, will find Bud! Zack! We're splitting up to find him!"

Zack salutes. "Y-yes, Prez!"

Geo and Yusei watch them leave the place and they split into two different directions. Yusei has gone into deep thinking about why Bud hasn't come back home. He starts to get worried of the possibilities of Bud's fate; is he dead or is he going to commit something that would make his folks sad?

"Geo," he spoke, "we'll help them with the search."

Geo sighs and replies, "I agree. I'm worried about Bud just as much as Luna is."

"We should split up just like them, but I'm going to follow Luna. I want to apologize to her about my behavior earlier."

"I understand." Geo patted Yusei's shoulder before he left the area.

Yusei also left the area, following where Luna went. In his heart, he has this feeling that something bad is going to happen. However, no matter what the trouble is, he would have to face it head on as he hopes that Luna and Bud are both going to be okay.


	6. The Raging Bull

Disclaimer: I don't own any Battle Cards and Star Force characters. I do own a few original characters.

Chapter 6: The Raging Bull

As Yusei is following Luna in the shadows, he and Omega-Xis are talking to each other. Omega-Xis asks, "Why are you following this girl like some kind of stalker?"

Yusei chuckles and replies, "I'm amazed that you know what a stalker is. The answer to your question is that I don't know."

The EM Wave alien gasps with his lower jaw hanging low. "You don't know? If you don't know the reason, then following her like this is kind of pointless."

"You do have a point… Okay! Enough hiding!" He decided to approach her as he follows her to a public park.

As he is about to close in on the gap between him and the Class President, he saw her running towards the fountain in the center. When he gets in eavesdropping distance of the fountain, he saw her talking to Bud. He is surprise to see Luna to be the person to find Bud. As he looks at them, he notices that there's something different about the big guy from the last time he saw him. Yusei usually remembers Bud is a happy person with his friends; however, the current Bud isn't like that. This Bud seems distant and he only looks at the blonde hair girl in a cold stare.

"Bud!" Luna shouted out of anger. "So this is where you are! You didn't show up to class this morning and you know that any missing students would ruin my class presidential record! Also, you never return home yesterday! Your mom is totally worried about you! Furthermore…? Bud, are you listening to me?"

"Yes…" he distantly replies, "I am listening…" Then Bud pulls out a red Battle Card and said, "EM Wave Change! Bud Bison, on the air!" He inserts the Battle Card and he's engulfed by a red-orange aura that resembles like fire.

When the fire dies down, Bud has transform into a red armored Minotaur. His snout looks like the nozzle of a flamethrower and the backs of his wrists are exhaust pipes. Looking at this Minotaur: he's much taller and buffer than the usual Bud Bison, which makes Yusei think that he's a perfect wrestler.

Luna screams out of panic. "Bud! W-what has happen to you?"

"This happen to me because of you," he replies, "I have gain this power to teach you a lesson!" Bud roars like a wild animal as his whole body and Luna are engulfed in a white light with Luna screaming. When the light dies down, both Bud and Luna disappears from Yusei's sight.

Yusei is shock to see this turn of event as he puts on his Visualizer to see if Bud is in the Wave World. However, Bud isn't in the Wave Road above him. He clicks his tongue as he wonders where are the two beings.

"Mega!" Yusei calls Omega-Xis's name as the EM Wave alien appears next to him. He asks, "What happen to Luna and Bud?"

Omega-Xis answers, "Bud probably took that girl to a nearby computer space. By the way, I know the culprit who EM Wave Change with Bud. His name is Taurus, the FMian fiery bull and he's known in Planet FM for his power, speed, and range."

"So we finally meet an FMian," Yusei spoke in a sad tone," and that FMian chose Bud to EM Wave Change. But why Bud? Geo always told me that he is a kind individual and he often takes his bodyguard role seriously, so he should have know what's right and wrong."

"Do you remember about Luna and Bud's fight from yesterday? Luna threatens him! So Bud would become sad and other emotions related to sadness. Which would make it easy for Taurus to convince him to EM Wave Change willingly."

Yusei understands Omega-Xis's explanation. Considering that Bud got threaten by Luna for his violent tendency, he judgment would be clouded by his depression. Bud's depression makes it easier for Taurus to convince him to perform an EM Wave Change. This makes it hard for Yusei since he doesn't have the courage to hurt a human being. He ponders on his next course of actions to save Luna and stop Bud from hurting her.

As he's pondering, he heard a nearby car engine turn on and roaring. He turns to the nearby parking lot and saw a lime-green pickup truck leaving. Yusei activates his Air Shoes and turns onto Full Throttle to increase his speed to catch up to the truck. Why is Yusei chasing after a truck? He caught a glimpse at the driver's seat and he wanted to make sure that his eyes aren't playing tricks on him. When he caught up to the truck, his suspicion is correct; there is no one driving it. He looks at the truck's computer dashboard with his Visualizer and saw sparks coming out of it.

"I think I know where Bud is," Yusei spoke. "Mega, can we pulse in to a moving vehicle?"

Omega-Xis smirks and answers, "There's a first for everything, Yusei. Let's go buck wild on them!"

"'Let's go buck wild on them'? Are you making up a catchphrase or something?"

"I'm blaming the guy who watches too many superhero shows," Omega-Xis said and his tone sounded like he's embarrass.

"EM Wave Change! Yusei Light, on the air!" Yusei inserts the Battle Card into his Transer and his belt glows. When the light disappears, he transforms into Mega Man and he pulse in to the truck's computer space.

* * *

Inside the truck's computer space, which the Wave Roads inside look like pavements, Luna is being attack by Bud. She is able to dodge his attack due to him single-mindedly charging at her like a bull. Though she thinks that Bud is toying her to the point where she gets tired. She is scared to see that Bud is trying to kill her and she believes that it is her fault for making him to act like that. She is starting to reflect on her action, as she wants to apologize to Bud.

"Bud!" she yells. "Please stop this and listen to me!"

"I'm not Bud," he replies, "I am Taurus Fire! And you will pay for threatening me! After I did everything for you: I act as your bodyguard! I support you in your elections when we were kids! And this is the thanks I get! You threatening me to cut off our bond together! I had it! Screw friendship! All I want is this power and you gone from my life!"

Bud charges at Luna one more time. Luna quickly tries to run out of the way, but she trips and falls. She turns to Bud and saw him closing in on her. She turns pale and her mind gone blank, which made her to become frozen. As the red Minotaur get closer, Luna screams out of fear.

"Battle Card! Cannon!" yells a voice as a cannon shot hit Bud in the face. The blast from the shot blinds the Minotaur and forces him to stop.

Luna wonders who made that shot as a familiar blue figure appears in front of her. That figure is Yusei Light in his Mega Man form with a literal cannon for an arm cannon. Luna has mixed feelings of relief and shock; she's relief that she is saved, but she is shock to see that Mega Man's attack hit Bud. She is confused what to feel as Yusei turns to her.

He asks, "Are you okay?"

Luna nods her head. "I'm fine. Thanks, Mega Man."

"We meet again, Omega-Xis!" A deep male voice says that as the FMian, Taurus appears in front of Taurus Fire. "I'm going to enjoy brutalizing you and your human partner after I regain the Andromeda Key."

"You're the same as always," said Omega-Xis, "a dumb bull who just single-mindedly follow orders without any sort of plan. Not only that, you just pick a human with brawns more than brains. Let me tell you: it's not going to be easy to get your hands on the key."

Luna, who is still shaken from Bud's attempt at killing her, is shock to see a ghostly version of Taurus Fire. She points at the FMian and asks, "Are you the one who made Bud to kill me? If you are, then turn him back this instant!"

Taurus laugh as Bud finally gets to see Mega Man. The FMian answers, "I'm afraid that I can't do that. After all, it was you who turn him into this! The one villain you should blame is yourself, little girl!"

Bud looks at Yusei and said, "Hello, Mega Man. It is nice to meet you."

"Kid," said Yusei as he's trying to act as if he doesn't know who Bud is. "Please stop what you're doing and go back to normal. If you're going to do what I think it is, then you're going to ruin your life."

Bud becomes silent for a second, and then he laughs like a mad man. "My life is already ruin," he said as he glares at Luna, "by that girl. Mega Man, you don't understand what is it like to do everything for someone so they can stay as your friend, but to only got threaten to get our bond cut off because of one stupid thing. Then my buddy, Taurus shows up and granted me the power to get back at her. So stand aside, I'm going to finish her."

Luna is frightened, but Yusei stood his ground and exclaimed, "I won't let you do that! It is true that I don't understand your problem, but that doesn't mean that I should become a bystander and turn a blind-eye! I'm going to stop you, even if it means that I'm going to fight you!"

Bud smirks. "I like to see you try. Once I'm done with you and retrieve this key from you, then I'm going to be given even more power over everyone!"

 _Is this my fault?_ Luna thought in fear. _Is it my fault that Bud becomes like this?_ She tries to shake that feeling away, but there's no way she can denied it.

"Kid," Omega-Xis spoke, "I'm afraid that we're not getting through to him. You know that there's only one option."

Yusei know what Omega-Xis is talking about, but he doesn't want to fight Bud or finish him off. Even if he knows that there is a chance of Bud being okay, Yusei wouldn't take the risk of harming him. He follows his morals of not harming anyone unless it is necessary. Also, Luna is behind him; if she saw him beating up Bud, she probably won't forgive him and that would make him even guiltier. Which is the reason why he chose negotiation earlier because he want to convince him to avoid the violence; however, it seems that violence is inevitable.

He gritted his teeth as he pulls out a Battle Card and said, "Battle Card! Chain Bubble!" He inserts the Battle Card into his Transer as his cannon transforms into an arm blaster.

Bud charges at Yusei at full speed; however, Yusei quickly reacts by shooting him a fast bubble bullet. The bubble bullet hits Bud, which stops him and encase him inside a bubble. This gives Yusei a chance to use another Battle Card.

"Battle Card! Sword!" His blaster transforms into a green short sword.

Yusei charges at the bubble-encased Bud and slashes him, which causes to free Bud. However, Yusei didn't hesitate to strike him down from that moment. He strikes at Bud's shoulders and knees and kicks him at the gut. Normally Bud's limbs would be cut off, but since he is in his EM Wave form, his body doesn't get cut off. As Bud is lying on the EM Wave platform, Yusei pins him down with one foot and points the tip of the sword at Bud's face.

"Just stop already," Yusei spoke, "I really don't want to do this."

Luna, from her perspective, thinks that Yusei is hurting Bud. She trembles in thought that he would kill her friend because he's protecting her. She screams, "Mega Man! Don't hurt him!"

It's not like he has a choice. Yusei hesitates to finish Bud off as his short sword transforms back into his hand. Omega-Xis is shock to see this action as he shouted, "Kid! Why are you hesitating?"

"An opening!" Bud gasps as he breathes out a fire like a dragon. The fire hits Yusei as he quickly jumps out of the way, thus letting Bud to get up.

Taurus laughs. "This fight is going to be easy, Omega-Xis," said Taurus in a triumphant tone. "I know your partner's weakness; there's no way he would harm another human being, unlike my partner."

"Take this! Ox Tackle!" Bud charges at Yusei at full speed.

Yusei dodges the attack; however, Bud quickly changes his attack with a flamethrower. His range is able to reach Yusei as the flames that cause him to flinch hit Yusei. Then Bud tackles him again and that tackle sends him flying for a bit and Bud punches him towards Luna.

Luna watches the whole fight in fear. She watches to see Bud beating Yusei like a rag doll and she believes that it is her fault that Yusei is getting beaten. She runs up to Yusei to see if he's okay, which he is as he slowly gets up.

"Fire Tower!" Bud slams his fist down at the ground. The ground starts to shake and five towers made of flames came out and surrounded Yusei and Luna.

 _I need to think fast,_ Yusei thought in a panic because his and Luna's life are on the line of being cook. He quickly grabs Luna and pulls out a Battle Card and inserts it into his Transer as the five fire towers engulfs them.

When the flames die down, Yusei and Luna are gone, leaving nothing but ashes. Bud laughs in excitement as if he already rid of Luna; however, Taurus told him that they're still alive. How can he tell? It's because if they're truly dead, then a certain object should be left behind, which is the Andromeda Key.

* * *

At a far distance away from Bud's location, Yusei and Luna both appear behind a wall. They catch their breaths because they sure have a good run to get away from the fire-breathing, muscle bull. How did they survive the Bud's fire towers? The Battle Card that he uses was Invis, a Battle Card that turns Yusei into an invisible ghost that can bypass anything, including attacks. Yusei uses that Battle Card to turn his body and Luna into ghosts to get away from Bud and his attack. To be truthful, he has no idea that he can turn Luna into a ghost from his own use, but he has no other choice.

"Great thinking," Omega-Xis spoke, "but I'm disappointed in your performance."

Yusei glares at his arm where Omega-Xis's voice spoke out from as he retorts, "Shut up, Mega! I have a moral conscience, unlike you who thinks fighting is the only option!" Then he notices Luna being sad as he asks, "Mega, can we get Luna out of here?"

"We can, but there's one problem. There is some sort of interference blocking my pulse out ability, which I bet it's from Taurus."

Yusei sighs. "So in other words, unless we defeat Bud, we can't get out. Man, this is turning into a video game or something." He approaches Luna and tries his best to act like he doesn't know her by asking, "Are you okay, miss?"

She nods her head as she continues to become silent in a very sad way. As she notices that Yusei is rubbing the sore areas of his body, she becomes concern. "I'm sorry," she said in apologetic tone, "If I hadn't made that fight with Bud, none of this would have happen. I'm Luna, by the way."

"It is nice to meet you, Luna." He petted Luna's head as if he's comforting her. "Can you please tell me what happen?" he asks, despite that he knows the story beforehand.

Luna explains to him the story about her fight with Bud yesterday. Yusei listens very carefully as he wants to know the story from her own perspective. As he listens her story, he can tell that her tone is riddled with guilt.

She also adds in her argument with Yusei earlier as she said, "He says that I'm a pathetic-excuse for a class president and he's right. My threat has made Bud into what he is now. I really want to apologize to him before our bond is gone, but it is too late… talking to Bud now is impossible."

"That's not true!" he exclaims, which surprises Luna. He explains, "There's no such thing of being late! You still have time to rebuild your bond; you just need to talk to him! However, the way your friend is now, I may need your permission to knock some sense to him."

She gasps, "Why would you need my permission to do that?"

"I really don't want to fight your friend, but there are times when words aren't enough. I know you might hate me for hurting your friend, but he's not giving me any other choice. So please… can I knock some sense into your friend?"

Luna is reluctant about his asking. She fears that Bud is going to get injuries or worst when he fights Yusei. But seeing how Bud is acting, she knows that there's no way he can be reasoned with words. If violence is the only way to stop Bud, then she should allow Mega Man to do it. However, she feels uneasy of the thought that she may lose her friend, as she remains silent.

Yusei takes her silence into reconsideration on his decision. He is afraid to fight Bud because he believes that the outcome would end Bud up to the hospital. However, he remembers his talk with Omega-Xis about the Jammer he fought before: the human would suffer a minimum damage if they're an unwillingly host. Even though he knows that the current Bud can't be easily reason with, but he has to try that again with his fists. He decided that it is time to pull out the "action speaks louder than words" kind of thing. To do that, he needs Luna's consent.

He gulps down his fears and said, "Don't worry, I promise you that I will save your friend! So will you please allow me to fight him in order to save him?"

Luna closes her eyes, as she understands what he's saying. Hearing his words have given her hope as she answers, "Okay, I allow you. Mega Man, please save Bud!"

Yusei nods his head as he runs back to the location where Bud is. Omega-Xis has listen in on the conversation and understands Yusei's doubts. Which is why he asks for Luna's permission; the EM Wave alien knows that he doesn't want this girl to hate him. As he and Yusei venture to Bud's location, Omega-Xis wonders if he made the right decision to involve an innocent teenager into his battle.


	7. Yusei vs Taurus

Disclaimer: I don't own any Battle Cards and Star Force characters. I do own a few original characters.

Chapter 7: Yusei vs. Taurus

"Battle Card! Tidal Edge!" Yusei left hand transforms into a long sword made out of water as he does a flying attack on Bud.

Bud reacts by using both his hands to catch the blade. He smirks and said, "Done hiding, huh. Take this! Fire Breath!" Bud shoots out fire from his snout at Yusei.

The flames hit Yusei as he gritted his teeth to bear the burning pain from the fire. He pushes his sword arm down towards Bud with all of his might, which shocks the Minotaur. With all his might, he manages to let his blade slip through Bud's grip and strikes him down at his shoulder. Bud screams in pain as steam came out of the wound and he goes down, letting his fire attack to stop. Yusei didn't took his time to hesitate as he did an upper slash attack at Bud's chest that causes Bud to fell on his back.

Yusei jumps away from Bud and pulls out a Battle Card. "Battle Card! Recovery!" he said as he inserts the Battle Card into the Transer while keeping his sword as his arm. The belt glows and the transparent green light envelops over his body for a few short seconds to heal his wounds.

Bud recovers by getting up as he glares at his enemy. "Mega Man… Where is Luna? Tell me where she is so I can finish her!"

"I can't let you…" he replies in a solemn tone. "I talk to your friend, Luna and she told me about your reason why you want to kill her. She's really sorry for threatening you and she hopes that you can forgive her."

"Lies!" Bud yells in a fit of rage. "She only wants an apology from me so she can save her own life! That vixen deserves to die!"

Taurus appears next to Bud and laughs. "Omega-Xis! Can you honestly expect your human partner to harm another human? Why not just give up now and hand over the key?" The FMian bull acts cocky as if he has won the battle.

"Are you sure about that, Taurus?" Omega-Xis asks in an arrogant tone. "I guess you need to learn how strong humans like Yusei are."

Yusei knows what Omega-Xis is talking about as he points his aquatic sword at Bud. "I promise Luna that I save you! And I will! By the way, Taurus, have you heard the term, 'Action speaks louder than words'?"

"No… I don't…" Taurus tilts his head.

"Really? That's too bad…" With a slight kick, Yusei appears in front of Bud and thrust his aquatic sword at Bud's chest. Bud is lucky that he's in his EM Wave form or he would be dead from the instant that he got stab.

Taurus gasps with his eyes wide open. "What's going on? I thought your human partner couldn't harm another human!"

"Even I'm surprise," Omega-Xis spoke as if he's in agreement with Taurus's shock. "Apparently, humans have a weird way of communicating with each other besides words. They use violence as their voices to reach out to each other when using their actual voices fails."

Taurus is surprise to hear Omega-Xis explanations. Ever since Cygnus told him about Yusei's weakness, he always thought that he has the advantage of getting back the Andromeda Key. He didn't think that there are ways for Yusei to hurt another human means that his weakness is no more. However, it doesn't change the fact that he has more power to beat Omega-Xis and get back the key.

"That doesn't change a thing!" Bud exclaims. "Anger Punch!"

With the might of his anger on Luna, Bud musters up all of his strength into his arm and punches Yusei. Yusei switches out his sword for his hand and quickly blocks the punch by using both of his hands. When the punch hits, Yusei felt the weight of the attack, but he manages to hold his standing position. Bud keeps pushing his fist down to crush Yusei; however, Yusei pulls out a Battle Card.

"Battle Card! Ice Meteor!" he inserts the Battle Card into his Transer as a wizard staff appears in his hand.

The tip of the staff glows and Bud pays no attention to it as Yusei saw something flying towards the two from a far distance. Yusei saw a meteor made out of ice coming towards his location and he believes that the speed of that ice meteor is fast enough to do some damage on Bud. Yusei quickly jumps away to let Bud's punch to hit the ground. Bud fails to notice the ice meteor coming towards him as the meteor hits him, which causes an icicle explosion. Bud somehow manages to survive the attack, but he is still wobbly to stand.

Yusei decides to try again to reason with Bud. He asks, "Bud, will you please stop this? Don't let your anger consume you and just go back to normal."

"Like hell I will!" he shouted with his pent up rage. "Take this! Ox Tackle!"

Bud charges a tackle at Yusei. Yusei did the same thing, but he goes in a stance like an animal and runs like he's wiping the floor at full speed. They collided but Bud is the only one who got hurt because Yusei tackles him from the gut. The force from Yusei's tackle is able to push Bud down again.

Yusei said with a sly smirk, "Mega Man style! Wiping-The-Floor Tackle Technique!"

Bud got up and roars, "Don't mess with me!" He charges at Yusei again.

However, Yusei stops him by grabbing onto his horns. "Mega Man style! Wringing-Out-The-Towel Technique!" he said as he twists the horns as if he's actually wringing out the towel.

Bud felt the strength of that twist as Yusei manages to bend his horns. Then he pulls back to lift Bud up in the air and tosses him away with all of his might. Bud and Taurus are both shock to see that Yusei has manage to flip the table to work for his favor. Omega-Xis felt proud to have Yusei as a partner as he wonders if Yusei got those techniques from TV or something. Yusei readies his self for another round with Bud, while unknown to anyone that Luna is watching the fight from a safe distance.

"Bud…" Yusei spoke. "Don't you know that Luna is crying?"

"Luna… is crying…?"

Yusei nods his head. "She is sad of what you have become and she's also sad that she is too late to apologize to you about that threat. Your friend, Luna, doesn't want me to fight you, but I promise her that I will save you!"

When Bud heard from Yusei that Luna was crying, he's starting to reflect on things. He really wanted to see Luna suffer before he kills her, but deep down, he starting to feel guilty. He finds it strange because he should still be angry, he should still have rage. However, after being pummeled by Yusei, his mind is clear from his anger and he now thinks more rationally with a question: what's the point in killing Luna? It's true that the reason why he's mad is because she threatens to cut off their Brother-Band, but the reason why she made that threat is because of Bud's earlier violent actions. Is her threat reason enough for him to kill her?

Then Taurus exclaims, "Don't listen to Mega Man! He's only saying that so you can forget the reason why I give you the power to get your revenge! Also, I bet that girl is laughing at your incompetence of not beating the hero."

"Taurus!" Yusei yells out of anger. "Stop spouting lies! Bud! Don't listen to him! That FMian is only using you for doing some bad things!"

However, it seems that lie works because Bud's anger is refueled. "I'm going to kill her! But first, I must get rid of you, Mega Man! Fire Tower!" Bud slams his fist down to the ground as five tower made out of fire surrounds Yusei and they draw closer to him.

"I'm disappointed in you," he said in a sad tone as he pulls out a Battle Card. "Battle Card! Wide Wave!" He inserts the Battle Card into his Transer as his hand gathers up a ball made out of water.

He twirls around like a ballerina, as the ball of water becomes a stream. The speed of that spin allows the stream of water to extinguish the fire towers. As soon as the fire dies down by the water, Bud and Taurus are both shock to see Yusei is still standing. Yusei angrily glares at Bud as he inserts another Battle Card as his hand transforms into a long green energy sword.

"You were supposed to be Luna's friend and yet you want to continue to upset her." He slowly walks towards in an intimidating way. "To be truthful, I also hate how she treats you, but I couldn't understand it because I never experience it before. But I don't like people who make others cry, so I can sympathize with you. That changes when I saw her crying and you try to kill her to satisfy your anger. I hope you are real proud of yourself because I'm not holding back to knock some sense into you!"

Yusei charges at Bud and quickly slashes him at the chest. Bud retaliates by punching him, but he dodges the retaliation and attacks his underarm. When he got to Bud's backside, he immediately grabs him by the shoulder to force him to turn around and slashes his arm. Bud felt the pain as he tries to glare back at Yusei; however, Yusei brings out a terrifying aura that makes Bud's glare useless. Bud knows that Yusei is being serious and wonders if he can win. He is so proud of his big body and strength and he believes that he has the advantage, but Yusei proves that being big and strong means nothing when his opponent doesn't stand still.

Taurus is surprise at this development as he tries to get Bud to fight back. He said, "What's the matter? You should be beating him! Not getting beaten yourself!"

"Taurus," Yusei spoke to get the FMian's attention. "Why don't you give up and get out of Bud? There's no way you can beat me. And also…"

Yusei disappears and reappears behind Bud and strikes him at the back. Bud retaliates by using his flamethrower snout, but Yusei dodges by sliding underneath Bud's fire spread. Bud couldn't react in time as Yusei uses his other arm and did an uppercut straight at Bud's face, which causes him to stop spewing fire and fall down.

"…I think it is time to finish this."

"Bud!" Luna shouted as she run towards Bud. "Are you okay? Are you hurt?"

Bud is surprise to Luna is worried about him, even though she knew that he's going to kill her. "Luna," he spoke, "why do you care? Don't you remember that I try to kill you?"

She nods her head. "I do and I really want to run away, but deep down… if I run away, then our bond will be gone forever. Bud, I'm really sorry for threatening you. I was worried that you might get into trouble if you try to scare people with your big body. As your Class President, I have to stop and correct you, but I ended up choosing the wrong words and hurt your feelings. I want to apologize to you, but I got scared that we might end up fighting each other. So I run away and hope that everything would eventually gone back to the way it was. I'm really sorry…"

Bud gasps to see tears coming out of Luna's eyes. He always remembers her to be such a strong girl who never cries; however, seeing her like this has given Bud to see her differently. She's not really strong; she acted strong to hide her weakness. It took Bud a few beatings from Yusei to realize how much pain he's causing to her and seeing her crying has started to weigh heavily in his heart. This weight of guilt is heavy enough to get Bud's anger to be gone as he started crying.

"Luna…" he spoke, "no, Prez… I'm sorry. I'm sorry for my violent behavior yesterday; I only did that to protect you, but I end up causing more problems. And I'm also sorry for trying to kill you; I was just so mad that you threaten me and I let my anger to blind my judgment. I really want to talk to you too, but I'm scared that we might fight too."

"Fighting amongst friends is one of the things to understand each other," said Yusei as if he's wise man. "However, running away after creating a fire from that fight would cause a spread that burns down your bond. It's time for you two to stop running away and face each other to re-plant your bond."

They couldn't help but agree with what Yusei has just said. Luna and Bud hug each other and forgive each other. Yusei believes that it is over; however, Omega-Xis warns Yusei to get Luna out of Bud's grip. He wonders what the EM Wave alien is talking about, but then heard Bud's agonizing scream. Luna worries about Bud since he's in pain, but Yusei pulls her away as Bud stands up and roars like a wild bull.

"Talk about useless," said Taurus even though he doesn't appear.

"Mega! What just happen?" Yusei asks.

Omega-Xis answers, "Taurus has taken control over Bud."

"He can do that!"

"Yes… But that's makes it easy to defeat him while Bud receives minimum damage. You remember my explanation after you defeated that Jammer the other day? Bud has become an unwilling host being force to fight."

"Ox Tackle!" Taurus declares as he uses Bud's EM Wave form body to tackle him and Luna. However, Yusei grabs Luna with one arm and dodges the attack. "Humans are such weak creatures. I give this guy power and this is what I get: a big softie. Oh well, I'm going to get the key in my own way!"

"Don't worry," Yusei said to Luna, "I will save Bud! So I'm going to beat that bull out of him!"

He charges at Taurus with his long sword in hand and attacks him. Taurus blocks his slash by using his big arms as his shield and retaliates by spewing fire at him. Yusei manages to dodge by jumping up in the air as he pulls out a gold Battle Card. Taurus stops spewing his flames and looks up to see Yusei in the air. Yusei inserts the Battle Card into his Transer and his belt glows.

A voice from the belt shouted, "Finisher! Mega Kick!"

The belt sends green electricity to his right leg. With the energy from the belt given to Yusei's leg, Yusei performs a diving kick at Taurus. Just as he thought that the Mega Kick would finish the battle, Taurus manages to stop the finisher by grabbing Yusei's leg before he hits him. Yusei is surprise by this as Taurus throws him away.

"Mega Man!" Luna screams in concern.

"Fire Tower!" Taurus slams his fist to summon the five fire towers. However, unlike the previous ones, these are quicker as they quickly engulf Yusei in flames.

Luna stands and watches to see Yusei being cook alive. Taurus stands and laughs in hopes that his fire can wring out the Andromeda Key out of Omega-Xis. Yusei, while in the flames, grits his teeth as he bears the burning pain that the fire is making. If Yusei were in his human form, he would have been dead by the intensity of the flames. He bears the pain until the fire is gone, leaving him still breathing with his EM Wave Form charred black and he's barely standing.

"Kid!" Omega-Xis yells. "Are you okay?"

A smirk appears on Yusei's face. "I'm fine, that fire is nothing compare to my flames."

Taurus scoffs. "Coming from the human who got burned. Omega-Xis, you should give up now and hand over the Andromeda Key. If you do, I bet I will spare your human partner… also, I bet the king will spare you by putting you in his dungeon. How does that sound?"

Omega-Xis was about to speak, but Yusei stops him from saying anything. Yusei taunts Taurus by saying; "You can take that offer and toss it into a nearby black hole! There's no way we can simply hand over the key!"

"If you defy the king, then your planet is going to be destroy."

"But if I give you the key, then you destroy this planet anyway!" he retorts. "I'm not going to let you to destroy this planet! There are people that I know who are precious to me and they too have people who are precious to them. I won't let anyone to lose their precious people!"

Yusei puts up a strong smile that make Taurus to be wary and Luna's eyes sparkle. Yusei's belt begins to glow and it surprises everyone. The belt shines blindly bright as if Yusei is being engulfed by it. When the light dies down, a gold Battle Card pops up from the top of the belt. Yusei is surprise to have another gold Battle Card and wonder why his belt makes them.

"I'm not sure what's going on, but… I'm done thinking about it!" Yusei charges at him and attacks him with his sword.

Taurus blocks it; however, Yusei keeps pushing him back. Taurus is shock that Omega-Xis's human partner is pushing him despite how much damage he received. Even Yusei and Omega-Xis are surprise by this sudden burst of energy. Yusei wonders where this sudden burst of energy comes from as he continues to push Taurus with all of his might.

He came to realize that he saw this in every superhero show that he watches. He remembers that heroes, when they're fallen from their wounds, get up and suddenly have this burst of energy that they use to fight against overwhelming odds. Those usual burst of energy stems from willpower, determination, etc., but this is real life—he shouldn't have this burst just like the heroes have.

Taurus pushes back to create a standstill, but with Yusei putting up a pressure, he can't seem to retaliate. Yusei manages to use Taurus's big arms to block his fire breathing attack. This gives Yusei a chance to use the new gold Battle Card to save Bud and get everyone back to the real world.

Yusei inserts the Battle Card into his Transer and his belt begins to glow. "Sword Finisher! Mega Slash!" said the belt's voice as Yusei's body glows green and he begins to tremor.

Then he steps back to break out of the hold and slashes at Taurus's gut. He didn't hesitate to attack again as he slashes at the chest and arm. He spins around and hits Taurus's back, other arm, and legs. He spins around again and he did a horizontal backslash at the chest, thus finishing the battle and forcing Taurus out of Bud's body. Taurus collapses to the ground as Yusei's body stops glowing and his sword transforms back into his hands.

Yusei turns around to see Bud's EM Wave Form destabilizing as the big guy transforms back into his normal human self with his eyes closed. Luna runs towards Bud to see if he's okay as Yusei feels a heavy weight in his heart. As he is going to check on Bud, Taurus appears and he's heavily wounded, weak, and still alive. Looking at the FMian now, he doesn't know that he should feel angry or pity. As he approaches the EM Wave bull, Taurus started laughing as if he's laughing at his own defeat.

"So this is it," Taurus spoke, "To think I was defeated by a traitor and a softhearted human. You may think that you've won this battle, but there are going to be others coming after you."

"Finish him off!" Omega-Xis exclaims. "If we kill him, then the other FMians would know that you're a force that they should fear."

Yusei wanted to comply with his EM Wave alien friend's request, but he turns around and walks towards Bud. The two EM Wave aliens are surprise by Yusei's actions as Yusei said, "Just go… Get out of here! However, if I see you using Bud one more time, I won't give you another chance!"

"Mega Man!" Omega-Xis growls. "If you let Taurus live, he would come back and attack again! We have to kill him now!"

Luna watches the conversation and wonders why Yusei doesn't kill the one who uses Bud. Yusei shouted, "What's good about killing someone? I understand your feelings, but killing someone doesn't make things better!"

Taurus laughs at how truly softhearted Yusei is. "I bet you're regretting of having this guy to fight against us!" With one final laugh, Taurus disappears from everyone's sights; possibly escape the truck's computer space, leaving Omega-Xis to growl out of anger.

"Mega Man…" Luna softly spoke.

Yusei turns to Luna and asks, "How is your friend?"

She gasps and panics for a second. After she regains her composure, she answers, "Bud's fine. I check his pulse and its normal."

"Thank goodness," Yusei sighs in relief. "Wait… I just realized that we're inside a moving truck…"

Everyone become silent for a moment until Yusei quickly runs towards the truck's main system computer; which is a small tower that has a screen and a computer keyboard. Yusei types on the keyboard to activate the truck's outside camera to see that the truck is still moving, but he has no idea where it's heading. He tries to regain control, but he fails to gain control due to him panicking over the thought that the truck may crash into something. He quickly runs back to the teenagers, grabs them, and pulse them out of the Wave World.

* * *

At the park, Yusei appears with Luna and the unconscious Bud. Yusei is still in his EM Wave form because he doesn't want Luna and Bud to know his identity. Luna thanks Yusei for saving her and her friend and also showing her a beautiful look of the Wave World. Yusei appreciates her gratitude, even though he felt a little guilty that he has some sort of part of getting Luna into that kind of danger. A groan can be heard as they turn to see Bud slowly opening his eyes.

Luna asks as he's getting up, "Are you okay?" When he nods his head, she hugs out of happiness, which made Bud happy as well.

Yusei scratches his head and said, "I'm sorry for that beat down earlier, it was the only way to knock some reason into you." Then he notices Bud looking down at the ground with a sad look on his face. "What's wrong?"

Bud answers, "I did some horrible things because I let that Taurus guy to give me power. I destroy a shop, I try to kill Luna, and I attack you. How can I be forgiven from the things that I have done?"

"But no one knows that you're the one who destroyed the hardware store," Yusei reassures him by saying that. "All they know is a red bull, not you! Also, no one is hurt, so you don't need to be guilty over it." Yusei notices that Bud is still looking guilty. He scratches his head and asks, "Tell me, how are you going to atone for the deeds that you have done?"

"Atone…?"

Yusei nods his head. "It's impossible to atone it since your friend and I are the only ones who knows. But if you asks me, I think the only way to atone them is for you to live your life."

"To live his life…?" Luna tilts her head.

"I don't have the answer how because I believe that you know the answer." Yusei smiles at Bud and signals him when he turns to Luna.

Bud turns to Luna as he gasps and nods. "I see… Luna, I'm really sorry for my actions before."

Luna shook her head. "Don't be, I am the one who should be sorry."

Yusei smiles and said, "Well, I have to go now. You two better go home as well." He warps back into the Wave World, leaving the two to look up at the sky.

"Bud," Luna spoke to get his friend's attention. "Mega Man is cool, isn't he?" Her eyes sparkle when she asks him that.

The big guy nods his head and he answers, "He is. He really does live up to what the news say about him."

* * *

"So you have failed to obtain the Andromeda Key from that traitor!" An angry yell came from the speakers of a computer.

Taurus retreats back to his and Cygnus's hideout, the abandoned factory, only to be in time to see Cygnus gain contact to the Planet FM. Though the FM King overheard the conversation between his two subordinates because Taurus didn't notice the computer was on. Once the conversation is over, King Cepheus quickly scolds him for his failure.

"I'm sorry, my liege," Taurus guiltily responds. "I failed to obtain the Andromeda Key, but it wasn't my fault! The information that I got from Cygnus was wrong!"

Cygnus defended himself by saying, "I told this bull that we shouldn't rush in to fight without even further investigation. I'm not at fault here. Taurus is just impatient."

The FMian bull notices the smirk coming from Cygnus's beak and roars out of anger. "Cygnus! Don't act like you're out of this blame! We could have gotten the key if you just join me to outnumber him!"

"Silence!" The King yells manages to shut Taurus up. "Taurus… for your failure at retrieving the key, I hereby order you to go on standby."

"But my liege…!"

" _What_ did I say?"

Taurus notices the King's tone is full of his anger, but he has chose to follow his order. Cygnus holds back his amusement at seeing Taurus being scolded by the King.

"Cygnus," King Cepheus calls out, "I hope you have obtain your information from Taurus's defeat."

The FMian swan nods his head. "I did. Thanks to Taurus, I now know what I need to retrieve the Andromeda Key."

"You better. I've already send reinforcements just in case; they should be in your location soon."

Cygnus and Taurus panics when they heard the King sending in the reinforcements. Cygnus tries to persuade the king by saying, "That's not necessary, my liege. I think I can handle on getting the key on my own."

"Just think of them as my _backup_ plan, in case you fail as well. Understand?"

King Cepheus exerts an overwhelming pressure through the monitor, which sends chills down to the two FMians' ghostly appearance. They bow their heads and everything around them becomes silent.


	8. Ayane's Day

Disclaimer: I don't own any Battle Cards and Star Force characters. I do own a few original characters.

Chapter 8: Ayane's Day

As soon as Yusei left for his first day at his new school, Ayane puts on her work uniform. Her uniform is a blue one-piece dress, pink long-sleeved shirt, black tights, and blue shoes. She grabs her ID and keys as she gets into her car and drives off to work in her blue mini van.

She listens to the radio during her time driving to work. The radio spoke of the usual news like what happening over the world, an idol's song being on top of the charts, and random advertisements before switching over to music. The songs are quite catchy to her as she started to sing along with the songs. Ayane felt joy when she sings; however, she stops singing and looks at her surrounding outside of her car. She felt relief that no has heard her singing because she doesn't get use to being the center of attention at her age.

* * *

When she arrives at her work place, which is clothing store called Croco Fur, she got greeted by one of her female coworkers. The female coworker has dark skin and black curly hair. That woman said, "Ayane, would you mind helping me putting up a sign in front of the store?"

"A sign? Is it big for you, Aki?"

The woman, Aki, nods her head. "Yes it is. We're having two idols doing a mini concert here at our store and do some minor promotion of our products. I understand that we need to attract customers, but I wish the manager should lighten up a bit: he thinks having idols help the store."

Ayane giggles as she listens on Aki's complaints. "It's all business, which I believe. So I guess I can understand his stress of having these idols at the store. When are the idols going to be here?"

Aki answers, "Sometime around the afternoon, they are high school students after all."

The two female workers found the sign at the employee only area. The sign has the image of Sonia Strumm and another female idol singing together with promotional words that said, "A collaboration event of Sonia Strumm and Nao Iwatani! Please come to see them together!" Reading the promotional tagline, the two workers thinks it's tacky or at least not imaginative. They sigh and carried the sign out in front of the store that is next to a mini stage with speakers and lights.

"We're done here!" Aki exclaims. "Let's get back to our work, Ayane!"

"Sure thing!" she chimes of her answer.

They went back inside and do their work. Aki works at the cash register, while Ayane walks around and asks people what sort of clothes they're looking for. The people find Ayane nice and captivating, which made them asks for her help. She did her duty of helping them on what kind of outfit they should get within their price range and whatever that is currently on sale. Afterwards, she discovers a lost child, a little boy to be specific, and stays with him until his mother arrives and picks him up ten minutes later after the announcement of the lost boy. She later helps out other workers with organizing the new shipment of clothing on racks, shelves, and displays, which made her carry a lot of heavy stuff in a share amount with the workers.

After working up to the point of her lunch break, she and Aki meets up at the employee only area to get their homemade lunch from their lockers. Though Aki's lunch is three sandwiches, Ayane's lunch is chicken strips, rice, and salad with ranch. Looking at Ayane's lunch, Aki wonders if she's the one who made them.

"No," she said with a smile, "my little brother is the one who made it."

"Your brother is amazing!" Aki awes to hear that Ayane's brother made her lunch.

As they're eating their lunch in the employee lounge area, they heard a yell coming from the room next to theirs. They heard a young man yelling, "Don't overwork your idol!"

The two female workers stop their eating and got curious on that yell as they took a peek and eavesdrop on the conversation between two men. There's a big man wearing a purple business suit and sunglasses talking to a slim young man wearing a black business suit and glasses. Judging from that slim man's angry expression, the female workers can tell that they're having an argument.

The big man puffs his chest open with his arms cross and said, "Isn't this a part of being a producer? Also, why do you care? Sonia's fine and she's my idol."

"Even so! Don't you have a conscience or care of what happens to her? We work for the same Production Company and even the president is worried about her wellbeing! It's that very reason is why Sonia is sent to school!"

"How I work my idol is none of your business!" The big man storms out of the room. As he comes out of the room, he notices Ayane and Aki standing near the door: Aki is afraid of the big man as she hides behind, while Ayane puts up a brave face. The man ignores them and just walks away.

"That was scary, Ayane…" Aki said in a trembling voice. "I'm amazed that you're not scare after hearing that."

Ayane smiles at Aki and replies, "It's not that scary." Then she turns to the slim man and asks, "Having a hard time as usual?"

The man and Aki both tilt their heads. However, that man gasps as if he recognizes Ayane as he exclaims, "Ayane! Is that you? How are you doing?"

Ayane giggles. "I'm doing fine. By the way, I started working here last week." Aki asks who is this man as Ayane answers, "His name is Gen Kisaragi. We know each other seven years ago when he was a rookie producer."

"I have some experience now, thank you very much." Gen doesn't like someone reminding him about his past and keeps calling him a rookie.

Then she becomes serious and said, "That was quite an argument earlier. Who was that man?"

Gen explains, "That man's name is Chris Gold and he's the producer of Sonia Strumm, who is famous worldwide. However, Chris has a long history of overworking his idols, which causes them to retire quickly. I'm surprise that Sonia is the only idol he's producing that can take up his overloading schedule."

"Sonia is such a hard worker," Aki said at awe.

"But her health is what worries our workers in our company," Gen replies in a sad tone, "It's nice that she works hard; however, she might collapse if she doesn't rest for a bit. The President also put her to school just in case she wants to retire, but in the mean time, school will act as her own excuse to relax from her idol work."

"Who are you producing?" Ayane asks with a gentle smile on her face.

Seeing her smile makes Gen feel warm inside his heart as he answers, "I'm the producer for Nao Iwatani and it's my idea for this collaboration event."

Ayane raises an eyebrow. "This collaboration event is your idea?"

Gen gasps when he realizes what he has just spoken. "Um… Hey, Ayane! Let's talk somewhere privately, if that's okay with you?"

Ayane turns to Aki, who is standing behind her, and understands his reason. She told Aki that she's going to talk to Gen alone and she and the producer left the room.

* * *

Ayane and Gen went to the underground parking lot where Ayane's car is. She starts the conversation by asking, "Is there a reason for today's event?"

Gen nods his head. "Yeah. Some of the company's earnings have been taken."

"Say what?" Ayane is mad when she heard that.

He explains, "Though only a portion has been taken, no one knows why some of the money is gone. I did some checking and the only one producer who isn't being truthful on the money they earn through their idol's jobs and that person is Chris Gold."

Ayane crosses her arms with a serious look on her face. "So to make sure that the portion of the company's earnings isn't gone is by doing this collaboration."

"I believe that Chris has been extorting money from our company through Sonia's jobs, but I don't have enough evidence that goes against him. This collaboration is the only way to keep an eye on Chris's actions. However, I know I won't stop him from jobs where he's alone."

"So you're telling me these things because I may ask Yusei to help you with your problem?"

"Yes! He would really help because I know he's smart enough with technology and hacking stuff."

Ayane looks at him in disgust as she said, "I'm sorry, but my little brother has put an end to his hacking days a long time ago. So he's not going to help you with your Chris Gold problem."

Gen understands the reason as he changes the subject. "Speaking about Yusei, how is he?" he asks in a gentle tone.

She sighs and looks away for a bit. "He's doing fine. He's started school today at Echo Ridge High School."

"What a coincidence! Sonia is also attending at that school! I hope they get along!"

A small chuckle has been heard from Ayane. "He will. Yusei isn't the type to be following the trends, so he can make friends with an idol, despite a few minor problems."

"You mean like paparazzi and stuff like that, right?"

She nods her head and chuckles a bit more. "He hates being the center of attention, especially if that attention leads to some misunderstandings. He just ignores them and continue his life."

"I figure that's the case," Gen spoke with a smile on his face.

Then she notices the time from her Transer and realizes that her lunch break is near over. "I have to get back to work soon," she said as she walks away.

Gen grabs her by the arm to stop her from leaving as he asks, "Can you please watch our idols? I want your opinion on them since you were a professional idol before."

Ayane was a popular idol seven years ago. She made a number of appearances on game shows, TV dramas, promotional events, talk shows, and live concerts. She also did some voice acting for a number of anime and video games. Ayane should have reach worldwide fame if it weren't for her parents' death. She chose family over fame because she thinks that she would become a horrible older sister if she continues her fame while her little brother lives far away from her. Without her parents watching over the young Yusei, she feels like it's her responsibility to take over her parents' parental duty.

"I work at the store," Ayane answers, "so I may end up seeing your company's idols in action." Her smile reassures Gen to get rid of his worries.

Gen smiles and bows his head towards her. "Thank you, Ayane!"

* * *

As Ayane continues her job of helping people on their purchase and stuff, she heard some cheers coming from outside of the store. She knows that the event is starting as she heard a young girl saying, "Thank you everyone for coming to our collaboration event at Times Square's Croco Fur! I'm Sonia Strumm!"

"And I'm Nao Iwatani!" another girl added in the same cheerful tone.

"Please listen to our song!" The two girls cheerfully said together.

Ayane walks out to see the idols singing in front of the store. She saw the two girls singing on stage while wearing one of the products from the store. Sonia wears a pink shirt over a black long sleeved shirt, white jeans, and pink shoes. Singing next to her is a girl named Nao Iwatani who has pale skin and short black hair with a long braid hanging on in front of her foxy face. The clothes she wears is a dark purple tank top, black leather jacket, black leather skirt, black-white striped socks, and black shoes.

The song that the two girls are singing is about people's dreams and hopes would reach higher than the skies as long as they keep their dreams and hopes in their hearts. The lyrics are cheery, especially along with the music being a mixture of pop and rock. Ayane and other people are listening to the song and find them uplifting and catchy.

During the time of listening to that one song, Ayane, being a former idol, starts to evaluate their level currently. She first started to evaluate Nao: her evaluation of that girl is that she's good at her singing and expressions, but still has long ways to go when being compared to Sonia. Sonia, on the other hand, is clearly on the level of a top idol; however, Ayane notices some sort of emotional pain coming from her singing that no other people would notice. Ayane can hear Sonia's pain through the cheeriness of the song that she and Nao are singing and Ayane wonders what is causing her pain.

Before she can analyze even deeply about this sort of pain, a coworker calls Ayane's name. "Ayane! How long are you going to stand there?"

Ayane gasps and she replies, "Sorry! I just find their song to be good!"

The coworker giggles. "They're idols after all." Ayane quickly went back to work after feeling a bit embarrass of just standing to watch the idols.

* * *

The event was a success and Croco Fur earns quite a positive on their sales. The mini concert ended at the sunset, which is the same time when Ayane finishes her shift and is about to head home. Before she was about to head to her car, Gen come to her and ask her opinion about their idols' performance. Ayane gives him her opinion and he is shock to hear them.

"I understand that Nao still has long ways to go on being at the same level as Sonia," he said, "but Sonia is in pain…! What do you mean?"

She explains, "It's not physical pain, but emotional pain. Despite that she's singing a cheery song with her fellow idol, I can tell that she's writhing in pain as she sings. I can hear her heart screaming through her singing, but without any knowledge about her, I can't even tell what's causing her pain. So I'm wondering… do you know much about Sonia's life, even if it is before her idol days?"

Gen feels weird to tell her something about Sonia's life; however, he worries about Sonia's wellbeing and he can tell that Ayane is also worried about her. He decided to tell her about Sonia's personal life. According to him, Sonia use to live with her mother who was bedridden due to some unknown illness that no doctor had a clue what it was for three years. To make her mom happy, Sonia sings some songs that she made up from her surroundings. On Sonia's thirteenth birthday, Sonia's mom gives her daughter an idol application that has her daughter to start her idol debut. After her debut, Sonia's mom succumbs to her illness and dies, leaving Sonia to be an orphan.

Ayane feels sad from listening to that story as she asks, "Does she have any other relatives?"

"She doesn't," he answers, "Sonia doesn't know if she has any living relatives, so she's living at our company's apartment on her own."

She exhales her breath, crosses her arms, and solemnly looks down at the ground. "I think I discover her pain, but I don't think I'm qualified to talk to her about her problem."

"Why?" Gen gasps. "I mean you have experience of losing loved ones too! I think you're qualified to talk to her about her problems!"

Ayane knows why she isn't qualified to talk to Sonia about her problem of losing her mother because she felt that she would cause Sonia to be extremely wary on her kind words. Ayane have experience that her kind words cause people to be wary from when she was in Harmony Town. One of Yusei's middle school female classmates have problems relating to singing, which is stage fright, and Ayane tried to use some encouraging words to help her to get over her stage fright. However, the outcome causes that student to be even more afraid of being on stage. It was at that time when Yusei started to use harsh words on his fellow classmate and the outcome was different because the girl got over her stage fright so she can prove Yusei's harsh words are wrong.

Being reminded of that time, she decided to change the subject. Ayane asks, "Have you got your company's earnings? None of the money was missing, right?"

"Yes, none of the money was taken this time… wait… Hey! Don't change the subject!"

"Mr. Kisaragi!" a young girl's voice calls out his name as she and Gen turn to see Nao Iwatani. She wears new attire that is different from the one she's wearing at the event: a green sports shirt, black shorts, white ankle socks, and black shoes.

Following Nao is Chris Gold and Sonia Strumm who is wearing the clothes that she wears to school earlier. Ayane looks at Chris's face and saw his angry expression; possibly due to the argument he had with Gen earlier.

Nao notices the atmosphere between Ayane and Gen as she asks, "What are you two talking about?"

Gen ignores Nao for a bit and glares at Chris. He said, "The event was a success. I thank you for your idol's work, but I hope you make sure her health is okay. Got it?"

Chris ignores Gen as he walks away, leaving Sonia alone with the other two adults and a fellow idol. His final words before he left were "I'm going home."

Gen angrily glares at Chris's back as Ayane notices Sonia is making a sad face. She asks, "Are you feeling okay?"

Sonia gasps, "I-I'm sorry, I was just lost in thought!" She went back to her sad face, which causes the people around her to worry about her.

To break this weird tension, Nao smacks Sonia's back that causes Sonia to be in shock. "Cheer up, Sonia!" she cheerfully exclaims as she stretches the famous idol's face to force her to smile. "You have to smile! That sad face doesn't suit you!"

Ayane giggles and said, "I agree! Making that sad face would ruin such a cute face like yours."

Sonia's face turns red from Ayane's comment as she looks down at the ground. Nao quickly changes her attention towards Ayane and she asks, "Who are you, lady? And what is your relationship with my producer?"

"W-we didn't have any sort of relationship!" Gen's face turns a bit red as his heartbeats a bit fast.

Ayane is oblivious on the meaning behind Nao's question as she said, "We're just acquaintances who have met again after not seeing each other for seven years. I use to remember him to be an extremely hard worker, despite him being a bit too clumsy and forgetful. By the way, my name is Ayane Light." Gen felt deflated from Ayane's comment, but lets it slide because that's pretty much the last thing that she remembers about him.

When Sonia heard Ayane's last name, she regains her composure and started to have a normal conversation with her. "Light? I have a classmate who has also goes by that last name. His name is Yusei Light."

"That's my little brother! I'm so glad you met him!"

"Oh, I see… Yusei is your little brother." She giggles because she felt happy to have a nice chat with someone. However, it took her a few short seconds to realize what Ayane have just said and gasps out of shock. "You're his older sister? Um, n-nice to meet you! I'm Sonia Strumm!" Sonia's face becomes extremely when she says that and she starts to panic.

"Sonia, why are you panicking?" Nao tilts her head when she asks her that question.

Ayane finds Sonia's reaction to be amusing as she decided to have fun with her. "I hope you and my brother get along! Also, there's no need to panic, especially to someone who could eventually be my _sister-in-law_."

Hearing that last part from her, Sonia's face gets even redder than her hair. She puts her hands on her face and panics in thought.

"I'm kidding!" Ayane spoke out. "I just like seeing girls like you making that kind of reaction. Besides, if I know my brother, he would only sees you as his friend rather than girlfriend." Those last words made Sonia to feel a bit disappointed as Ayane turns to Nao. "Are you going to introduce your self?"

Nao happily answers, "I'm Nao Iwatani and I'm an idol like Sonia here! Though I'm not even close to her popularity…"

After chatting with them for a few minutes, Ayane checks the time from her Transer and realizes that she should be home soon. She leaves the people and quickly rushes to her car. At the same time, Sonia wonders why she felt like she saw Ayane somewhere before.

* * *

When she returns home, she opens the door to see Yusei's familiar shoes on the floor in front of her. She shouted, "Yusei! I'm home!" She enters the living room to see that Yusei is not in the room and she even checks the kitchen to only not find him there. She then checks up the stairs. "Yusei! Are you in your room?"

There's no answer and this causes her to worry. She walks up the stairs and knock on the door of Yusei's room. However, there's no one answering her knocks. She felt this heavy weight in her heart as she gulps down her worries and pray for not the worst scenario of what happens to her little brother. She slowly opens the door wide open to see Yusei lying on his bed, shirtless and has bandages wrap over his upper body. Seeing the bandages made Ayane to put her hand over her mouth as she fears that she is losing Yusei.

Ayane rushes over to him and she shouted, "Yusei! Yusei! Please tell me you're not dead!"

Yusei slowly opens his eyes to see his sister. "Don't write me off dead already…" Ayane is happy to hear him talking as he slowly rose his upper body. "Welcome back, Ayane. How was your day?"

"Never mind about my day!" Ayane exclaims. "What happen to you? Did you get into a fight? I told you before when you got into that street fight that you should never got into one! Do you know how much that worries me? Do you really want me to lose another family?"

"I'm sorry, but there was a reason why I'm like this."

"And what reason would that be?"

Yusei explains what happen to him today. His classmate, Luna Platz, threatened her friend, Bud Bison that she's going to cut off their Brother-Band if he doesn't stop his violent behavior yesterday. This causes Bud to have his revenge on the girl and Yusei fought him off to calm him down. After receiving many blows, Yusei manages to calm Bud down so Luna can apologize to him. When he is telling this story, he left out a few details, but the rest is actually true.

Ayane at first didn't want to believe his story, but she believes him because she knows her little brother best. "You always wanted to be the 'hero' that our parents want you to be. Just promise me that you won't do that again."

"I promise," he said with a reassuring smile. "Now let me make dinner!"

His sister stops him from getting up, which made Yusei wonder why she did that. "You don't have to. Just rest and heal, I'll make the dinner for the two of us."

Ayane left the room and headed towards the kitchen. During her time cooking dinner, she remembers that Yusei did most of the housework and cooking whenever he is alone, especially when they were at their uncle's place. She always appreciates the kind side about him, but she feels that he too is carrying a burden like she is. She hopes that what she's doing now can lighten the weight of his burden and as his older sister she must show that she's responsible for her little brother. Ayane starts singing as she makes dinner to lighten her mood.


	9. Getting to Know

Disclaimer: I don't own any Battle Cards and Star Force characters. I do own a few original characters.

Chapter 9: Getting to Know

"Are you sure that you're okay to go to school today?" Ayane asks as she worries about her brother, Yusei who happens to be injured yesterday.

"I'm going to be fine," he answers as he puts on his shoes. "Just as long as I don't do anything strenuous that would make my bones crack to the point of me being in the hospital. I have to go now."

He decided to walk to school instead of activating his Air Shoes. He thinks that the speed of the Air Shoes would be a bit strenuous for his injured body to handle. After Ayane watches him walking to school, she gets into her car and drives to work.

* * *

"Mega," Yusei spoke, "Can you at least talk to me?"

There's no response coming from his Transer. Ever since that Yusei allows Taurus to get away, Omega-Xis didn't speak to him. He couldn't help but think that he made a bad decision for that. He wonders if his alien partner isn't going to trust him anymore.

"Yusei!" a familiar female voice calls out to him. He turns to see Tama running towards him. "Talk about a coincidence that we're walking together."

"What happen to your Mag Bike?" Yusei asks that question because he remembers that she uses her bike to get to school.

She answers, "The chain for my bike broke and the back wheel got a crack. I may need your help afterschool because I don't like the idea of walking to school everyday."

Yusei sighs and mumbles, "And I was planning to see Geo's dad afterschool…"

Tama has good hearing as she said, "Don't tell me that you're still planning to make your Matter Wave assistant? I thought you have given up on that project since I don't see you making any devices that would work for the project."

"I didn't have the chance to meet Geo's dad because I'm busy with the housework and groceries. Also, I'm not even sure when Geo's dad is home. I thought that I should ask Geo to take me to his dad so I can work on my project."

After hearing his short explanation, Tama remembers that he wanted an assistant to help him when he's busy. She wonders what causes him to be so busy that he needs an assistant. She thinks school, housework, and his hobbies would keep him busy, but not to the point he needs some assistant. But she wonders why he wants to create an assistant by the use of a technology that is never release to the public? She thinks that he's going to take on a challenge to create the project before anyone gets his or her hands on it.

"I'll help you fix your bike afterschool," he said, "but as long as you actually help me because I'm not well enough to do anything that would make my road to recovery even longer."

" _Not well enough_ …? What do you mean by that? Did you injure yourself?"

He nods his head. "Yeah, I did. It was yesterday and I sort of hurt myself by… um… On second thought, I plead the fifth on how I obtained my injuries."

Tama doesn't like that response as she grabs his arm and acts like a police officer as she pins him at a nearby wall of a building. She applies a bit of force onto Yusei's upper body with the use of his arm, which causes him to feel excruciating pain due to his injuries. The people walking by saw them and wonder what they're doing.

"I'll let you go once you told me how you get your injuries," she said as she keeps adding on the pressure.

After feeling that the bones of his upper body are getting crush, he decided to lie to her about how he gets his injuries. He said, "Okay! Okay! You win! I got injured by a bunch of boxes falling on top of me in a closet! Will you let me go?" She does let him go as he continues, "Ow… You got some strength! At least try to be gentle to my injured body!"

"Well excuse me! I would probably be gentle if you hadn't try to keep your injuries a secret." Then she notices Yusei is smiling at her and she starts to feel creep out. "Why are you smiling?"

"I'm just happy to hear that you actually care about my wellbeing despite your rough persona," he said and that made Tama's face turn bright red. They continue to walk with an awkward silence between them.

* * *

The two teenagers arrive and enter into the school building with their awkward silence. Tama broke the tension by saying; "I'm going to my classroom now! And I think that you should do the same if you don't want the foul-mood Luna Platz to ruin your day because of your little 'spat' with her before!" She walks away, leaving Yusei to stand in front of the stairs, as he is lost in thought.

He started thinking to himself about the events that had transpired since he first move back to Echo Ridge. Yusei met Omega-Xis and they fused together to become Mega Man, he found out that other aliens chase after Omega-Xis because he had stolen the Andromeda Key, and he had fought other people who have forcibly been EM Wave Change with those aliens. Thinking about the events has made him to think back of a superhero that said, "Great power comes great responsibility." He wonders how long is it going to be for him to protect the citizens, or at least the world, from the FMians because he is only one man. He has no one to help him with this problem or at least truly talk to someone about this responsibility.

Yusei's train of thought is derailed as soon as Geo, Luna, Bud, and Zack caught his attention behind him. He gasps, "Geo! Guys! How is it going?" He is trying to act surprise to see Luna and Bud walking together with smiles on their faces.

"Yusei! I try to call you, but you didn't answer," Geo said. "Both Luna and Bud here have both forgiven each other!"

"Really? I'm glad then."

Luna looks at Yusei with a smile, which made him step back a little. "I heard from Geo yesterday that you were following me because you want to apologize to me."

Yusei nods his head. "Yeah… I want to apologize to you about what I had said to you before: that you were a 'horrible' person for threatening your friend. I follow you, but you suddenly disappear and I decided to wait to talk to you today."

"I appreciate that you want to apologize to me, but I don't need your apology. Let me thank you instead."

"Thank me…?" He tilts his head.

She explains, "If you hadn't said those things to me, I probably not realized my mistake. I also want to thank Mega Man as well because he told me how friends should act after they fought."

Yusei acted like he doesn't know what she is talking about when she mentions Mega Man. Luna told him that some bad guy kidnaps her and Bud to try lure out Mega Man. She explains how Mega Man saves her and Bud and gives the two teenagers his opinion about their fight. His opinion causes them to forgive each other and she truly admires him for the advice that friends need to understand each other. Yusei knows that she's lying because he is Mega Man and he knows how it really happens; he figures that she told this lie because she doesn't want others to know that Bud is the bad guy and he tries to kill her out of revenge for the threat. He notices the guilt that is written on Bud's face despite that he's smiling.

Before Yusei can say anything, Sonia interrupts him by calling out everyone's attention. She asks, "What are you guys talking about?"

"S-Sonia Strumm!" Bud exclaims, as he is shock to see the famous idol walking towards him and his friends.

Yusei scratches his head from seeing Bud's reaction. "Oh yeah! I forgot that you weren't present in the classroom yesterday. You see, Sonia is a new student just like me and she's our classmate."

While everyone ignores Bud's speechlessness, Luna becomes the person to answer Sonia's question. She said, "I'm just thanking Yusei for helping me and Bud to forgive each other. Also, Mega Man saves me and Bud from a bad guy!"

Sonia becomes a bit dumbfounded when she heard Luna say that. "Mega Man saves you?" she gasps. "How is he?"

Luna looks sad as she answers, "He had suffer damage from that battle, but he had manage to beat that guy up." Then her tone switches into a cheery tone as she continues, "Mega Man is so cool and mature! I wish I could talk to him some more!"

"Same here…" Sonia mutters in a low voice that no one hears.

Yusei notices Sonia's sad expression as he heard the bell rings for the start of class. Every student quickly headed to his or her classrooms, while at the same time that everyone is looking at Sonia as if they're thinking up opportunities to talk to her.

* * *

Once the lunch bell rings, the students in the classroom started to gather around Sonia and ask her a bunch of questions relating to her idol job. Though one of the boys ask her if she has a boyfriend, which she answers with a no. She tries to keep a straight face to hide her discomfort of being crowded by her fellow classmates. Then she notices Yusei joining up with Luna and her friends to go to the cafeteria. Sonia quickly breaks free from the crowd and quickly joins them.

After they grab their meal from the cafeteria lady, they search for a place to sit and eat. Both Yusei and Sonia notice that some of the students scrunch together in their seats; they know that those students wanted Sonia to sit at their group. That's when Yusei notices Tama sitting at a table alone and he quickly approaches her.

Tama notices Yusei approaching her as she said, "It's a free country, and so you and your friends can sit in this table."

"Is that okay?" he asks, as he is concerned if the students around her would create some kind of rumor about her sitting next to a famous idol.

She answers, "I don't mind. Let people talk and/or spread rumors, it doesn't matter to me."

Upon hearing those words coming from her mouth, he admires her coolness. However, he remembers that she's putting up a persona to hide her true self from her peers. He sits next to her and he whispers, "I bet you're gleefully happy that Sonia is coming to sit in the table that you're sitting." Tama punches his chest in response to that whisper, which causes him pain.

Sonia and the others join Yusei and Tama as Geo notices Yusei is in pain. He asks, "What's wrong, Yusei? Did this girl punch you?" Yusei nods his head as his answer, which causes Geo to sigh. "I'm sorry for my friend's rude comment."

Tama chuckles as she said, "I'm already use to him and his personality; I am his neighbor after all. I even crash at his place some of the time to blow off some steam."

Everyone in the table looks at Yusei and he's confused about their stares. "Huh? Why are you guys looking at me?"

Luna quickly change the subject by saying; "We just want to know something about you." She then glares at Zack, which made him to nervously nod his head in a fast pace.

"Y-yes! That's true!" he exclaims. "Geo did tell us about that you were weird in the head and you _were_ kind of righteous yesterday. So we thought that we should get to know you a bit more."

Yusei scratches his head. "What is there to know about me? I thought Geo would tell you stories about me from the emails that I have sent him for seven years."

Geo retorts, "I think it's better to hear those stories from your mouth rather than mine's. Besides, friends should know each other, right?"

After Yusei took a bite from his cheeseburger, he started to talk about himself. He said, "Geo is right about my mind being a bit weird and I do have a righteous side, mostly because of my parents forcing me to watch superheroes and follow their examples of morals. Besides that, I'm an inventor and programmer."

Yusei pulls out a tennis ball that is black and metallic from his vest pocket. As he shows the ball to everyone in the cafeteria, he squeezes the ball from top and bottom. The ball started to glow red stripes and he lets go to let the ball spins horizontally, which surprises everyone. The ball stops spinning as it transforms into toy-like black bird with red stripes. Everyone's eyes are on the small bird. Then they got surprise when that bird starts flapping its wings and perch on Yusei's shoulder.

"This is one of my inventions," he said with a smile, "this little guy is called Spy Bird and just like the name implies, it spies on people. This bird can record anything it sees and hears within a hundred feet radius and transfers the recording into my personal computer. Not only that, this bird also acts another means of communication that can never be tampered by outside forces, even the government." Yusei taps the mechanical bird's forehead and the bird transforms back into its ball form without the red glow. He catches the ball and puts it back into his vest pocket. "Though I only made three of these Spy Birds, but they're useful to send messages to people without having this irrational fear of someone trying to hack in your communication line. I have issues, okay!"

Then Tama spoke, "I know that you're the son of both Thomas and Marie Light, but that is incredible! But I wonder what make you think of creating this bird. Is it from a superhero media that you watch before?"

Yusei shook his head and that surprise both Geo and Tama since they know how much he loves superheroes. He answers, "I got the Spy Bird idea from my one of my friend's birds."

He explains that his friend has this special power that allows her to communicate and befriend a lot of animals, regardless if they're dangerous. She sometimes uses those animals as a means to communicate with her friends because she never owns a Transer because she is an orphan and she still chooses not to own a Transer after living with a rich, kind friend who Yusei form a Brother-Band with. His female friend also uses birds to spy on Yusei and his friends in Harmony Town because she's a caring person and she doesn't want to lose her first _human_ friends. Her spying birds becomes Yusei's inspiration to create the Spying Bird, but uses it for emergency purposes like calling for help or spying on people who Yusei finds suspicious.

"When I first show her my creation," he said, "she sort of hits me for creating a mechanical bird that looks like her birds. Boy, I wish you could meet her! Her power is so interesting!"

"Speaking about friends," Sonia spoke, "how many friends do you have back in Harmony Town?"

He looks up the sky as he answers, "Including the girl who can befriend with animals, I have seven friends back in Harmony Town. Besides Geo, I have two friends outside Harmony Town: a male racer from New Mute City and a young female medicine maker from Choina. So altogether and including Geo, I have about nine friends."

"Nine friends, huh…" Geo looks at Yusei, as he is happy to hear that he made some friends to keep him company during his time in Harmony Town.

Then Yusei change the subject by asking Luna a question. He asks, "Luna, are you from a rich family?" Luna nonchalantly nods her head. "I knew it! One of my friends told me that she met a haughty girl from the Platz's family from a business party that she went to."

"Really? Your friend told you that she met me! Can you tell me that person's name?"

Yusei nods his head. "Her name is Sophie McDowell; she's the girl who wears gothic Lolita clothing."

Luna gasps, "I do meet someone with that name from a party last year!"

Everyone finishes off their meals just in time when the bell rings for the start of class. Just as Yusei follows his classmates to the classroom, Bud grabs Yusei by the arm and it stops him from moving.

"What's wrong, Bud?" he asks as he notices the sad look on the big guy's face.

"Can we talk afterschool? I want your advice about something."

Yusei tilts his head as he wonders why Bud wants his advice. "I promise Tama that I would help her fix her Mag Bike, but… if you want my advice, then could help us with the Mag Bike because my upper body isn't feeling well right now."

Bud makes a surprise face when he heard that Yusei isn't feeling well. "Really? What happen?" He uses the same lie that he uses on Tama, which causes Bud to make a sad face. "Sure, I'll help."

Yusei is happy to hear that Bud is helping him out and they head back to the classroom.

* * *

"Why is Bud walking with us?" Tama asks as she and Yusei are heading back to Yusei's place with Bud Bison, since school is over. Yusei told her that Bud wanted to talk to him at this time, but due to his promise to her, Yusei asks his help because of his injuries. She sighs and said, "I really don't care actually. Just do whatever you want."

Yusei notices that Tama is upset and he wonders why. However, he shrugs as the three teens arrive at Yusei's house. Tama went to her house to get her bike, while Yusei and Bud goes to Yusei's garage with the door open. Yusei asks Bud to grab the big white box at the top shelf over the tool wall and gently place it down next to him, which Bud complies. At the same time, Yusei grabs his welding equipment, metal cutting equipment, and laptop.

"Bud…" Yusei calls out Bud's name after he puts the box down. "What is it you want to talk to me about?"

Bud makes a swallowing sound that Yusei can hear. He's being hesitant on his words because he's afraid of what Yusei is going to say about the lie that Luna used. However, he builds up enough courage as he said, "You remember that Luna told you about how Mega Man saves us, but there's a lie that isn't true. The truth is that the bad guy is actually me."

Yusei listens to Bud's story of the events of when he became Taurus Fire and how he tries to kill Luna out of rage. Though Yusei knows what really happen since he's Mega Man, but he pretends to be interested in his story. The reason why he wants to talk to Yusei about this is because Luna told him how harsh, righteous, and blunt Yusei is when he talks to her. Bud hopes that Yusei's opinion would give him some sort of peace of mind, despite the fact that Mega Man gives him his opinion. Unknown to them that Tama is standing behind the wall as she too listens to their conversation. She doesn't want to walk in there and create an awkward atmosphere in the room when they're repairing her bike.

"I understand," Yusei solemnly said. "I do hate that you were the bad guy and you try to kill Luna because of her threat. However, Mega Man knocks some sense into you and gives you a chance to make up for what you've done. So I'm proud that you took his opinion. As for my advice, you must forgive yourself to continue your life."

Bud wonders what he means by that. "What do you mean?" he asks.

Yusei points his finger at him and answers, "When Luna was telling me her 'story,' I notice your guilt that was written on your face. I have a feeling that you're feeling guilty for that lie when you know the truth. You can't forgive yourself for keeping the truth from your friends, but I'm sure they'll understand and forgive you eventually. So take your time, okay?"

The big guy nods his head with a happy grin on his face. Bud was expecting Yusei to be harsh and blunt to him, but he wasn't. Yusei is acting like a parent to him and using mature talk to reassure his fears. He felt really grateful to have this talk with Yusei.

"Now how long Tama is going to make me wait for her?" Yusei asks out loud.

Then Tama enters the garage with her Mag Bike in her hands. She doesn't want the two boys to know that she has listen in on their conversation, so she decided to lie. She said, "I'm sorry that I'm late! My uncle was berating me about my neglectfulness of not cleaning my room."

Yusei sighs and replies, "That's okay, Tama. Let's repair your bike!" With that being said, the three teenagers started to repair the Mag Bike.

* * *

Nighttime came to be and Yusei is in his room studying. He was able to finish repairing Tama's Mag Bike with the help of Tama and Bud. The two teenagers left to go home as soon as they're done and now Yusei is just take his time resting his body from injuries.

Then Omega-Xis calls out Yusei's name, which made the human teenager to smirk. "Oh, so _now_ you're talking to me!"

Omega-Xis sighs as he said, "I've been doing some thinking and I believe that I can't stay mad at you. You're only just following what your parents told you to do: to follow the morals from the superheroes. However, leaving an enemy alive would result into something bad for you and for this planet! Don't you want to save the people you care about from the FMians? Do you?"

"Of course I do!" he didn't hesitate to answer that. "But I don't think _killing_ is the solution to save the people of this planet! I'm going to continue what Peace has started! I'm going to form a Brother-Band with the Planet FM!"

Omega-Xis becomes shock to hear that. "Are you nuts? What makes you think that's going to work? The FMians killed your parents and the workers on that space station! Surely you must think of avenging your parents!"

"And that's what I don't like! I know that there are heroes who have gone the vengeful route, but most of them stay true to their morals of not killing people and just find the solution. I want to find a solution that wouldn't have the entire inhabitants of Planet FM to come to Earth and drag even more innocent people into a galactic war. All I want is less blood to be shed!"

Omega-Xis can see the determination in Yusei's eyes. The alien can tell that he won't back down on his decision. He gritted his fangs and said, "Fine, I'm not going to argue with you. I'm staying by your side so I can see the result of your decisions. However, if your decision leads us to our deaths, then you have no one to blame but yourself."

Those words from Omega-Xis have made Yusei to steel his heart to keep his belief of using Brother-Band to end the war. But Yusei knows that he must beat the FMians that came to Earth for the Andromeda key. Yusei decided to end the conversation by going to sleep.

* * *

At the same time, there's an agency called AMAKEN: a research facility and space museum that was founded by Geo's dad and his other friends after they left NAZA seven years ago. In the hallways outside of AMAKEN's laboratory, there are two male workers conversing with each other.

"Have you heard this morning's news?" the man with a mustache asks.

"You mean the one about the stolen pickup truck being found in riverbank?" The man wearing tinted glasses tilts his head as he listens to the mustache man.

The mustache man said, "The Satella Police found a pickup truck at a riverbank and they discover that the truck's computer system has some sort of abnormalities. They believe that the viruses must have taken controls of the vehicle. The truck is lucky that no one got into an accident."

When they heard the laboratory doors open, they gasp to see another male worker coming out of the room. The worker is skinny, his hair is brown with a bang covering half of his face, and his skin is fairly pale. The worker looks at his two fellow workers and those two jumps back and walks away. As he watch them walking away, the skinny worker sighs as he walks somewhere else.

As the skinny worker walks pass the computer room, he was stop by another worker. This male worker has a big belly and wears an AMAKEN hat to cover his brown hair. This big guy is Aaron Boreal and he is also the founder of AMAKEN alongside with Geo's dad.

The skinny man asks, "What do you want, Boreal?" His tone sounds like he's being wary of Boreal's approach.

Aaron answers, "I was wondering if you're available after work. Kevin and I are going to this new fast food place on the way home and I wanted to invite you to join us. So want to come, Tom?"

The skinny worker, Tom, shook his head, which disappoints Aaron. Tom's reason why he wouldn't join him because he's busy with his "secret project." Aaron understands as he told Tom that he hopes that he would join him the next time he talks to him. Tom agrees to that promise, but he says that promise with a grim smile and Aaron walks away. As Tom looks around his surroundings, he becomes paranoid and just hurriedly left the hallway.

* * *

At Vista Point, there's a mysterious woman wearing a black trench coat, black gloves, a black bowl hat, and black-tinted glasses. The woman looks up at the sky and mutters, "Twinkle, twinkle, little star… How I wonder what you are…"

"You sure like singing that children's song," said a young male voice behind her.

The woman turns to see a young man and she is happy to see him. The young man wears a black body suit that is underneath his red armor: chest armor, gauntlets, waist guard, and boots. On his waist is a metallic belt that looks a bit similar to Yusei's belt. He wears a red helmet with a black visor to cover half of his face.

"It's great to see you again, Proto Man," said the woman. "It has been years since I last saw you!"

Proto Man nods his head. "It is great to see you too! By the way, have you seen the news about this Mega Man person?"

"Yes I did, but I wonder if he and his partner are ready for the upcoming battle since they're still _fresh_."

Proto Man bows down like a gentleman. "Don't worry about it. If the situation gets any worse, I'll be there to save him. Though I may be a little rusty…" A red glowing sword appears out of his left arm as he uses the glow to shine the dark surroundings of the night.

* * *

Side Note Correction: It was the "ex-girlfriend." In chapter 2 of the story, Yusei stated that he only has female friends, but not a girlfriend. I forgot that I scrap the former girlfriend idea a long time ago and I forgot to fix that correction before I post it and I didn't even notice it until now. So I fix it and I'm amazed no one corrected me on that little mistake.


	10. Thoughts

Disclaimer: I don't own any Battle Cards and Star Force characters. I do own a few original characters.

Chapter 10: Thoughts

At a bank in the city of Echo Ridge, the workers are confused at what's going on with their computer system. The money within the bank's computer is slowly dwindling away. They have no idea what's going on as they try their best to prevent the money from being stolen. However, the system isn't responding to their commands.

Inside the bank's computer space, two EM Wave Beings are duking each other out. The two beings are Yusei in his Mega Man form and the Jammer. Why is Yusei fighting against the Jammer? He happens to be in the area during his training and saw the Jammer entering the bank's computer space. He enters the computer space to stop the Jammer for whatever it was doing, which is stealing money.

"I'm not letting you to steal any money!" Yusei shouted as he inserts the Wide Sword Battle Card to transform his arm into a wide, double-edge, green energy sword.

The Jammer cackles like a mad man. "Money is everything! Money is life! If I don't have any money, I will die!" The Jammer transforms his arm into a machine gun and rapid fires at Yusei.

At the speed of those rapid firing bullets are coming, any normal person wouldn't dodge them as fast as those bullets. However, thanks to the weeks of training against many viruses, Yusei can see the bullets slowing down in his perspective and quickly dodges and use his sword to block the bullets coming at him. Then he runs towards the Jammer while blocking the bullets. When he got close to his enemy, he uses his sword to cut the Jammer's machine gun arm off.

The Jammer screams, "No! My arm! My arm! You cut off my arm!"

"Yusei!" Omega-Xis shouted. "Don't hesitate! Keep on the pressure!"

Yusei gritted his teeth as he inserts the gold Battle Card into his Transer. His body glows along with the belt as the belt's voice shouted, "Sword Finisher! Mega Slash!"

In a blinding speed, Yusei slashes the Jammer to the point where the Jammer fell onto his knees in pain. When Yusei gives the Jammer a final slash at the chest, which finishes his enemy off. The Jammer explodes into bits of data until there's nothing left of that person, leaving Yusei to be sadden at what he have done.

"That person is going to be fine," said Omega-Xis. "But right now, I think we need to return the money back to where it belongs."

Yusei sighs as he responds, "I don't need you to tell me that."

He walks up at the main internal system of the bank's computer space and started to type in some code. After a few typing, the system returns back to normal and the money that the Jammer stole returns to where it belongs. Omega-Xis activates the Pulse-Out command to get Yusei out of the bank's computer space as his body glows blue and he transforms a beam shooting up at the sky.

* * *

Yusei transforms back into his human self and he is currently walking next to a public park. He sighs and said, "Mega, what's the difference between the Jammer and the FMians?"

"We fought Taurus three days ago and you never even bother to ask me that!" Omega-Xis exclaims.

Yes, it's true. It has been three days since the Taurus incident and it's now the weekends, which Yusei takes advantage of by training. Since he took three days off resting his body, he thought that using the weekends to train is a perfect idea, until the Jammer shows up and ruin that idea.

Omega-Xis explains, "Unlike FMians who would find their hosts to take over, viruses immediately fused into their hosts without talking to them. Though it depends on the host's emotion."

"Their emotions…?"

"Yes… You fought two Jammers and did you notice their behavior."

Yusei scratches his cheek as he remembers the Jammers' behavior. The first one he fought was a car thief and the recent one was pretty much a robber.

"Humans are emotional creatures. If their emotion blinds their judgment, then they can be easily taken over. FMians can do the same thing, but they can't fully taken over their host like the viruses; they need to take their time to slowly taken full control of their host's body during the fusion."

"Does that mean that you can take control of me just like your FMian enemies?"

"Unfortunately, no. For some reason, I can't steal your body like my enemies can. There must be something that blocks my ability to do so." Then the alien continues his explanation about the Jammers. "Another difference between the Jammers and FMians is how they're defeated. Remember when you rescue Bud. The Jammers can't leave behind their human host to where they're defeated, but rather leave them back in the real world thirty feet away from where they're defeated."

"Thirty feet?" Yusei is shock to hear that. "If that's the case, I would've seen the Jammer's host to know if he's okay."

"You don't need to be worried about their injuries. If they do get injured, then it would have been all over the news by now."

Yusei sits at a nearby park bench and just stares up at the sky. "But still," he said, "it would be good to know that sort of information. By the way, this has been bugging me for a while now. How do the Jammers and FMians pick their hosts?"

Omega-Xis answers, "They pick their hosts from their Wave Frequency."

"Their Wave Frequency? I guess I understand that human brain waves are a bit similar to EM Waves, but I'm pretty sure that their Wave Frequency don't add up with the whole EM Wave Change thing!"

"You're forgetting that there are many different types of EM Waves with different Wave Frequencies. Who can say anything about EM Wave aliens?"

"… You do have a point there." Yusei feels a bit dejected when he starts to think about the different EM Waves with different Wave Frequencies.

"However, you're different from the rest of the humans. You don't emit any sort of Wave Frequency."

Yusei tilts his head. "I don't have a Wave Frequency…? Why is that?"

"I don't know," the alien spoke, "but without a Wave Frequency, you can EM Wave Change with other EM Wave Beings like the FMians."

"Really?" he yawns. "That's interesting… How come I have this sort of regret of not getting something out of Taurus when I defeated him?"

Yusei starts mumbling some things that are popping out of his mind, which made him too distracted to notice someone approaching him from behind. This mysterious figure slowly approaches Yusei without making any loud sounds. The figure's hands slowly approaches over Yusei's head as that mysterious person covers his eyes, which surprises him.

"Who is it?" Yusei gasps at the fact that he lets his guard down for this person to cover his eyes. "Why do you blind me?"

He heard that person giggling and it sounded like a young woman's voice. This person whispers, "I know that you are Sonia's classmate who just treat her like a normal person. She's a famous person, yet you treat her like that. So I'm curious what kind of a person you are."

Yusei thinks this person may be a fan of Sonia Strumm and just jealous of him being friendly to her. He grits his teeth and asks, "Who are you?"

The person lets go of his eyes as he turns to see the person is a teenage girl. She wears a grey hoodie, a black skirt, black shoes, black-tinted glasses, and a green Transer on her left arm. She giggles and said, "I'm Nao Iwatani! It's great to finally meet you, Yusei Light!"

"How do you know who I am?" Yusei becomes a bit defensive as he glares at the girl, Nao.

Nao, not knowing why he's on the defense, tilts her head. "Your sister told me your name and I kind of ask Sonia about what you look like. I think your sister must have told you about the collaboration event the other day."

Yusei lowers his guard and gain his calm composure. He said, "Oh yeah! My sister did told me about that event… I'm sorry for my early behavior, I just don't like people sneaking up on me."

Nao giggles at Yusei's response. "Your reaction to my surprise attack is funny though. By the way, what are you doing here?"

"I was just taking a little stroll to kill some time," he lies with a smile on his face. "What about you?"

"Same here, since today's my day off." She sits next to Yusei and continues the conversation. "It's kind of weird coincidence meeting each other like this."

Yusei scratches his head. "What are the odds?"

"It's too bad that Sonia doesn't have a day off like me, but I guess being world famous is extremely stressful. I'm amazed that Sonia still keeps her self together!"

Yusei chuckles. "I can't help but agree with you, despite that I have no idea that she was _that_ famous before!"

"Say what?" Nao gasps out of shock. "Wait! Why am I surprise? Sonia did tell me that you have no idea how famous she is!" Then she moves a bit closer to Yusei and just stares at his face.

He becomes a bit startled of her approach as he asks, "Why are you moving a bit closer to me?"

"You're a good person! I can tell from your eyes!" She giggles when she said that.

His eyebrow twitches in response. "What do you mean by that?"

She explains, "I can judge a person's character from their eyes. And by judging from your eyes, I can tell that you would never betray Sonia's trust!"

"Why would I betray Sonia's trust?"

"It's because you're a teenage boy and your hormones would probably hurt her feelings," she just bluntly said.

Yusei sighs. "I understand your point, but I will never do such a thing. Though it will be hard for me to be her true friend because of her idol status. I really don't like being hounded down by fans and paparazzi."

Then a chiming sound came from Yusei's Transer. Yusei knows that he receives an email as he decides to check the contents. The sender who sends the email is Geo Stelar, Yusei's best friend. The email said:

 _Yusei!_

 _I have finally got my dad to give me the concepts of the Matter Wave Project so I'm attaching them to this email. He was really surprise when I told him that you want these concepts to create your own assistant. Dad and I hope you don't cause an explosion in your new home._

After reading this email, Yusei just laughs out of enjoyment, which surprises Nao. "That guy thinks he's so funny!" he exclaims. Yusei remembers when he first brought Geo to his old home in Echo Ridge and the two boys got caught in an explosion when Yusei was showing off one of his inventions to him.

Nao has no idea why he's laughing like that. "Um, are you okay?"

"Oh! I'm sorry for my laughter! I just received an email from my friend, Geo… that's all."

"I understand." She smiles like a child as she somewhat understands why he is laughing. Then she saw something up at the sky and ask, "What's that?"

Yusei looks up and saw a person with wings that is flying at the height of 50 feet. At first he thought that he saw an angel or something, but looking at that person carefully, that person is wearing a backpack with big wings. The two teenagers both wonder what's going on as they continue to watch the flying man. Then they notice the flying man is wobbling as if he's losing altitude, which he is and they saw him falling.

Nao screams, "He's going to fall!"

Yusei runs as he pulls out a blue tennis ball from his vest. He squeezes the ball until white stripes appear on it. He tosses the ball at the ground where the man is going to fall as that ball absorbs the air around it. The ball then expands into a huge blue air cushion and it is able to save the man's life from falling. Nao felt relief to see that the man is safe as she catches up to Yusei.

As Yusei pulls the man out of the big air cushion, he checks his pulse to find that it is normal. He also places his ear on the man's chest to hear that his heart is beating normally and he's definitely breathing. Then he pushes a button to turn that big air cushion back into a ball and puts it back into his vest pocket.

"Yusei!" Nao calls his name. "Is that man, okay?"

Yusei smiles. " Don't worry, he's fine. It seems like he fainted during the fall." He inspects the man's clothing to find out that he's wearing an AMAKEN uniform. "What's an AMAKEN worker doing out here?"

He takes a closer look at the backpack with wings to notice that it is some sort of jetpack with wings. Yusei figures that this man must be testing out this jetpack, but he wonders why doesn't the man put in some sort of safety device that saves him from falling. As Yusei tries to inspect the jetpack, the man wakes up and immediately stops him from inspecting the device.

The man screams, "What are you doing?" And he immediately grabs the jetpack away from Yusei and holds it in his arms.

Yusei takes a step back from the scream. "Whoa! Calm down! I'm just inspecting your jetpack, there's nothing to worry about."

"Yeah right!" the man exclaims out of disbelief of Yusei's words. "I bet you try to steal it, weren't you? I won't let you have my Flappack!"

Hearing the device's name, the two teenagers think it's a stupid name. Both Yusei and Nao explain to the man that Yusei saves his life before he dies from falling. Then they introduce their selves to the man, but the man is being too defensive. They even try asking for his name, but he refuses to say anything.

Yusei rubs his temple because the man's outburst is irritating him. He calmly asks, "Is that the way to treat the people who saved you from falling? If I hadn't saved you, you would have been dead with a concussion and your invention would be stolen after your 'death'."

The man looks down in a sad way as he thinks that Yusei's reasoning is right. He said, "I'm sorry… My name is Tom Dubius and I work for AMAKEN. Thank you for saving me."

Nao smiles. "There… was that so hard?"

"Well then, Mr. Dubius… can I ask you one thing?" Tom looks at Yusei who puts on a gentle smile on his face. "How come your Flappack didn't have a safety device? I mean you would have died if I hadn't been in the area, so I thought that I should ask."

Tom looks at his device. "That's strange… I could have sworn that I did install the safety parachute…"

"Maybe it malfunctions…" Nao spoke the first thing that pops out her mind.

"That could be it…" Tom nods in agreement of Nao's words. But then he gasps and shouts, "It's not like I'm agreeing with you, thieves! I won't let you steal my invention!" The man leaves the area in a quick pace, leaving the two teenagers dumbfound.

Nao looks angry as she said, "What's his problem? He acts like a paranoid nutcase!"

Yusei couldn't argue with her, but he couldn't be angry at Tom's behavior. He knows that there are times when people's creation got stolen and being credited by someone else. He remembers reading reports about many owners got call out to court about their creations. Some have succeeded with their defense, while others lose their business. Yusei understands Tom's behavior, but he wishes that Tom could put some trust into people.

"What's the device that you have just thrown?" Nao asks and according from her tone, she has calm down.

"That was my Cushion Ball," he answers, "like my Spy Birds, this can be activated when I squeeze the ball. Once the ball is thrown, it absorbs the air to expand the ball to the size of a safety cushion."

"But why do you bring it with you?"

Yusei scratches his head as he answer, "I was planning to test its water-riding capabilities, but it looks like I can't use it again because it's a one-day use. It needs to be recharge for 24 hours after being used, but I got school tomorrow."

Nao smiles, but then becomes sad when she notices the time. "I'm sorry, Yusei, but I have to cut our time hanging out short because I promise my mom that I will help her clean the house before noon. However, before I leave, can I form a Brother-Band with you?"

Yusei gasps, "Huh? Why me?"

Nao giggles at Yusei's reaction. "I just find you a bit interesting since you're friends with Sonia."

"Even though you say that, I didn't even form a Brother-Band with Sonia. I form Brother-Bands with Geo's friends, but never with Sonia."

She tilts her head. "How come?"

He smiles as he answers, "It's because I don't want people to get the wrong idea. If rumors were to spread about my relationship with her, then her image as an idol would be ruined and I would be harass by her fans."

"I don't think Sonia would care about her idol image."

"But that doesn't stop the fans from harassing me because of my relationship with her. I know that sooner or later, I would be harassed by the students at my school."

Nao becomes a bit afraid at the moment she sees Yusei's serious face. Even though she understands his reason, she wanted to know why this guy makes a face that screams out intimidation.

Yusei notices her reaction and quickly relaxes his face. "I'm sorry for that, I didn't mean to make that sort of face. Also, I don't want to form a Brother-Band with you because of my reason."

"I understand, but can you promise me one thing. Can you please be with Sonia whenever she's down?"

Yusei smiles as he answers, "I promise. I may even break my reason and form a Brother-Band with her if I want. So you don't need to worry." Nao thanks Yusei and left the area with a satisfied look on her face.

As soon as he's alone, Omega-Xis spoke, "You also scared me when you make that face and I'm from a warring planet where my kind keeps killing each other."

Yusei didn't respond to that remark. In fact, he chose not to respond because even he's surprise that he made such a face. He wonders if he is just venting his anger out on someone or he is just subconsciously doing it for no apparent reason. It is unlike him to scare people like that, unless it's for a Halloween Party or if his friends drag him into something he doesn't want to do. Yusei decided to go back home and look at the data that he recieves from Geo.

* * *

When Yusei returns home, he heard his sister's voice. "Welcome home, Yusei!" she shouted. Ayane has the day off today to relax her six-day workload at Times Square's clothing store.

"Welcome home, Yusei!" said another voice.

Yusei gasps because he and his sister are the only ones living here. He also notices the black shoes in the entranceway and that voice doesn't belong to Geo or any of his recent friends. But he does know whose voice it is and he is happy to hear that voice again.

He rushes to the living room to see his sister talking to a young man. The man has short black hair with a white streak on his bangs and he has pale skin. He wears a red leather jacket, black shirt, and long cargo pants. On his waist is a leather belt that has a skull on its buckle and a red Transer on his left arm.

"Alan!" Yusei happily shouts as he runs up to him.

This man is Alan Pryde and he's a twenty-year-old Satella Police officer from Harmony Town. Yusei met him when he first started middle school and Alan was in training. They hang out most of the time, though most of their time together was actually Alan asking Yusei for some blunt advice whenever he was stuck on a problem. The last time they saw each other was at the airport when Yusei and Ayane move to Echo Ridge City. Yusei wonders why Alan is here as he asks him his reason.

Alan answers, "The higher-ups from Harmony Town's Satella Police transfer me to Each Ridge City's Satella Police. At first I want to refuse, but I thought that I may need your help soon."

"When you get here?" Yusei asks.

"Just last night, so I may be a bit sleepy right now. By the Ayane, where do you get this oolong tea? It's delicious!"

Ayane giggles. "I didn't get them. Yusei bought them from the supermarket yesterday and I appreciate him for getting them."

Yusei chuckles and mutters, "They were on sale though, that's why I bought them."

"Did you say something, Yusei?" Ayane asks, but Yusei rapidly shook his head.

Alan decides to change the subject by asking, "Ayane how are you paying for this house? I know you got a job, but I don't think a weekly paycheck would pay for it. Even your life savings couldn't afford it. Are you using your parents' life insurance?"

Yusei glares at Alan and that made him jump from his seat. "Don't interrogate my sister!" he said as he grabs Alan's shoulder and squeezes it as if he's crushing it.

Ayane finds this situation amusing and just laughs to see Yusei acting so intimidating. She stops her laughing and she ends the situation by answering Alan's question. She said, "I am using our parents' life insurance because there's no way I can afford this house. I pick this house over a small one because I know my brother need some spaces for his inventions and other things he received."

When Alan and Ayane turn their gaze at Yusei, he scratches his head and just looks away. He looks a bit embarrass because he knows what the two grown-ups are remembering that his uncle gave him a room-sized laboratory for him to make some inventions, though most of his inventions are from his friends' requests and/or his interests. He left behind those inventions when he moves to this household, but he did bring the smaller ones because they don't take too much space. However, that doesn't mean that Yusei would probably end up making even more crazy inventions.

They continue to talk some more, but during at that time, Omega-Xis is watching through Yusei's Transer. He notices something odd about Alan, which is that he is not emitting any Wave Frequencies. The alien doesn't understand why that Alan is the second one to be not emitting any sort of Wave Frequencies. He wonders why he Alan is like Yusei with Wave Frequencies, but he shrugs it off as he just takes a short nap.

* * *

Tom Dubius returns to AMAKEN with his Flappack in a package box. When he goes into the laboratory room, he saw Aaron talking to Kevin Stelar. Kevin is a muscular man and he has slick, brown spiky hair. His face looks like an older version of Geo Stelar, his son.

Kevin notices Tom entering the room and he said, "Hey, Tom! Do you need any help with that box?"

Tom looks away Kevin's smile and he replies, "No, that's okay. I can handle this myself." He walks in the room with the box, but he trips and Kevin quickly stops his falling, preventing Tom from dropping the box and its content.

Aaron spoke, "Tom, you can't do things on your own. There are times when you need friends to help you out."

Tom pulls out the box away from Kevin's hands and said, "Stop lecturing me! I don't need friends! I can't trust anyone with my projects!"

Kevin sadly looks at him and he sighs as if he's telling him some bad news. "Tom… I don't know how to say this, but the Chief Director is not too happy with your performance lately."

"Huh?" Tom gasps in shock. "Why? I demand an explanation!"

Kevin explains that some of Tom's inventions haven't impressed the Chief Director for the three years that he started working in AMAKEN. Some of Tom's inventions have keep him from being fired, but the Chief Director doesn't like how Tom isn't impressing him with some new innovative inventions for the general public. Kevin warns Tom that if he doesn't create an innovative invention within the four weeks, he's fired from his job.

This shocks Tom as he fells down to the floor. "No way…" he's voice trembles. "I'm going to be fired… But that can't be… Where on Earth am I going to work now? I lost my previous job at Astro Tech Company and if I get fired, who would take me…"

Both Kevin and Aaron are worried about Tom. They try to approach him, but Tom shoves them away and runs into the deepest parts of the laboratory.

"Poor, Tom…" Aaron sadly spoke. "If only he could let us help him…"

"It can't be helped, Aaron…" Kevin stares at the place where Tom has run with a serious look on his face. "You remember how Tom lost his previous job. He lost his job because his colleague stole his invention and gotten all the credit, while Tom lost everything. If you hadn't met him that one night of going into an restaurant, he wouldn't have gotten this job."

Aaron nods his head. "Yeah… and he was grateful at the time, but now he has a tough time to trust in people. He's doubting his coworkers because of that traumatic experience of someone you trust ends up betraying you."

Kevin decides to change the subject. "I heard that Geo's teacher, Mr. Shepar, asks the Chief Director for a field trip here."

"Yeah," Aaron spoke with a smile, "I told him that it's a great idea since it we would be debuting an outer space display! It would definitely amaze your son and his friends!"

Kevin chuckles. "So the outer space display has been completed for the public! Now everyone can experience space just like all of the astronauts did!"

According to Aaron, the field trip is going to happen in the next four days, so it gives them time to prepare the exhibits. He tells Kevin that he has to go and prepare the exhibit for the field trip and the things he needs to speak. Kevin, on the other hand, decides to talk to Tom about his situation.

He walks to the place where Tom is and he saw Tom slowly removing his Flappack out of the box. "Tom, what are you doing?" he shouted, which surprises him and made him jump a little.

Tom quickly hides the Flappack in the box and turns to Kevin. He becomes a bit wary of Kevin as he said, "What do you want, Mr. Stelar? If you're going to lecture me about getting help, then just leave me alone!"

"Tom," Kevin gently spoke, "I understand that you can't trust anyone, but looking at your current situation, getting help is one of the options to prevent your fate." Tom didn't say anything to retort Kevin's claims. "Do you know the reason why the Brother-Band system existed in the first place?"

"So that people can keep in contact with each other… I don't know…"

"Well, there's that… but that's not the only thing that the Brother-Band can do. The Brother-Band exists to help people to form a powerful bond between them. That bond gives us the strength we need to face the dangers of the future. I know that you don't want to trust people because of what happen before, but I want you to trust me and Aaron and let us help you, okay?"

Kevin raises his hand towards Tom with a warm smile on his face, which made Tom warier. Although Tom admires Kevin's passion about the Brother-Band, he doesn't want to put his trust in him and Aaron because he doubts their kindness. However, seeing Kevin's smile has warm Tom's heart and he shakes his hands.

"Fine, I let you guys help me." Tom smiles with Kevin as he shows Kevin his Flappack.

* * *

After having dinner at Yusei's place, Alan leaves and thanks the two siblings for having him for dinner. Ayane drops at the couch and turns on the TV. On the TV is the news channel telling a breaking story of a mysterious cyber bank robbery that has happen earlier today. The bank workers were baffled to see the money was slowly draining away from their cyber safe, but they were relief that the money have gotten back. No one knows why the money was slowly being gone and then later to be returned, but Yusei knows the truth because he was there.

"At least the news have stop talking about Mega Man," Ayane spoke in a happy tone. "I swear the news likes to shove this Mega Man person down our throats so we see him as a hero."

Yusei chuckles at his sister's honesty and started to ask her a question. "What do you think about this Mega Man guy?"

"I think he's a great guy for helping people when they're in danger, but I sometimes wonder about his family. Do they know about what Mega Man has been doing? And if they do know, would that worry them?"

Yusei knows what she's talking about. What Mega Man, or Yusei for that matter, is doing means that he's risking his life. If something were to happen with him, his sister would be worried, which is pretty evident from when she saw his injuries from before.

She turns to Yusei and she asks, "What do you think about Mega Man?"

Yusei doesn't know what to say about Mega Man since he and him are one of the same people. Deep down in his mind, he wants to voice out his opinion about his Mega Man self, but he wonders what he should say. He knows that he has some faults and he wants to try his best to fix them.

"I got nothing to say about him," he answers in a solemn manner. "I really want to voice my opinion about him, but I don't want the media to influence my judgment. So until I can say anything about this Blue Warrior, I must gauge him through my own eyes and my knowledge about heroes."

Ayane is happy to hear that her little brother is acting mature for his age. Even though Yusei lies to her, he manages to worm his way out of the conversation in the hopes of not revealing his Mega Man identity. Omega-Xis finds it interesting to hear that from Yusei and he wonders what is going in his mind. Yusei heads upstairs to his room and he goes to sleep.


	11. Loss of Trust

Disclaimer: I don't own any Battle Cards and Star Force characters. I do own a few original characters.

Chapter 11: Loss of Trust

"I can't believe your father asks you to request my help," Yusei spoke in an irritable tone.

It's afterschool and Yusei is planning to continue on with the Matter Wave Project. However, Geo requests his help because his father asks him to do. Since Yusei is a nice guy, he took the request. The two are riding a bus to AMAKEN.

Geo replies, "It can't be help though! You're the only person who can fix things in a fast pace! Dad wants your technical power to fix the anti-gravity machine for the field trip tomorrow!"

Yusei yawns as if he's a bit bored. "Are the workers in AMAKEN incapable of fixing their own machine within one day? It's a good thing that we stop by my house to get my toolbox."

"Speaking about the field trip, I'm surprise that Mr. Shepar actually allows you and Sonia to come despite that you two are recent new students."

"And it all happen because I ask him a question about the field trip. I knew I should have kept my mouth shut."

"Why? Don't you like space?"

"Not as much as you, Geo. I have two things that I'm interested in; one is superhero and two is technology." Then he gasps when he realizes something about his likes. "Actually, I have two more things that I like; which are good food and handmade things."

Geo smile twitches when he heard his other likes. He knows that his friend is only doing this to mess with him, but he sometimes wishes that Yusei should be a bit more serious. Geo knows that's not going to happen.

When the bus stops at AMAKEN, the two teenagers get off and enter it. Looking at the huge building with satellite dishes, model rockets, and an observatory, Yusei couldn't help but be a bit impressed. They enter the building and hurries to the receptionist's desk.

The receptionist asks, "Do you need something?"

Geo nods his head. "Yeah. Can you call my father, Kevin Stelar? Tell him that I got Yusei here with me."

The receptionist complies with the request and calls Kevin Stelar. Yusei and Geo both waited at the lobby and took a seat at some chairs reading a few magazines. They stop reading the magazines as soon as Geo's dad comes into the lobby to greet them.

Kevin is happy to see Yusei here. "It's great to see you again, Yusei! The last time we see each other was when you were moving to your uncle's place."

"Geo told me that you need me to fix your anti-gravity machine."

Kevin nods his head. "Can you do it?"

Yusei sighs and he scratches his head. "Just take me to the machine," he bluntly said, which made everyone to drop a sweat.

Kevin brought the two teenagers to the exhibit hall at the east wing of the building. The exhibit has a lot displays related to space like space landings, satellites, and models of spaceships. Geo is fascinated by these displays, but Yusei doesn't care; all he thinks that he should see the inventions instead of the space displays. Kevin leads them through a door at the far end of the exhibit and inside they're in a room that looks like solar system, but a small enough to fit a room.

The two teenagers are surprise that they're in a room-sized solar system. However, they didn't let their excitement to cloud their objective. Yusei inspects the room with his own eyes to discover that the floor and walls act like viewing glass to show the stars of the solar system. When Kevin turns on the lights, the space room became a white room with white balls in different size on platforms. Kevin shows Yusei the location where the anti-gravity machine is, which is at the ball at the center where the sun supposed to be.

Before Yusei goes to work to fix the anti-gravity machine, he asks Kevin about how he made the room to look like the solar system. Kevin told him that this room was from his father's blueprints before he died. He took those blueprints and applies it to be a part of the exhibit for the public who wants to learn about space. Yusei is impressed that this room is from his father's blueprints and he feels like that's quite a challenge for him to beat his father. As he is about to fix the machine, everyone heard someone entering the room.

"Kevin," said a male's voice, "I was wondering when—oh?"

Yusei turns around and he gasps to see Tom Dubius. "Hey, it's you. It's nice to see you again."

"Yusei, you know Mr. Dubius?" Geo asks.

That said boy nods his head as his answer. Yusei explain how he met Tom, but he minus out the part where he saves Tom from falling. He doesn't want to talk about the reason of why he falls from the sky because he knows how paranoid he is.

Tom becomes a bit agitated to see Yusei in front of the anti-gravity machine as he wonders what he's doing. He turns to Kevin and he asks, "What is that boy doing to the machine?"

Kevin smiles and he answers, "I ask Yusei to fix the machine for the field trip tomorrow! We need to have it ready for it, but for some reason, the machine isn't working. So I ask him to come and fix it very fast."

"Are you sure he's trustworthy?" Tom asks in a wary tone. "Are you sure that he doesn't steal anything from us?"

Geo becomes mad when he heard Tom's accusation. He yells, "Yusei isn't going to steal anything! Don't accuse him like he is some sort of spy!"

Seeing Geo's outburst causes Tom to be a bit afraid. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean it like that!"

"Geo!" Yusei calls his name. "Forget about it! I'm okay that there are people wary of me and I don't want you to become angry because of that!"

Kevin takes Tom out of the room and listens to what he has to say. Geo also leaves the room just to go use the bathroom. Yusei pulls out his toolbox and opens the panel at the platform underneath the big white ball that supposed to be the sun. When he checks the insides of the panel, he discovers the problem of why the anti-gravity machine is in the fritz and he started to replace some the machine's parts.

* * *

An hour later, Yusei has finish fixing the anti-gravity machine and every worker is surprise how fast he is. Geo is standing at the panel where they turn on the room. Yusei orders Geo to turn on the room to activate the room, which turns the room back into the solar system and have Yusei floating in the room. As he floats, he uses the weight of his upper body to move his floating body so that his legs are in position. He kicks the sun underneath his feet to make his body to fly across the room and into the wall. Yusei flips his body to have his feet landed on the wall and he kicks again to fly across the room.

After flying around the room for a few minutes, Yusei tells Geo to turn off the machine. Once the room is turn back to the white room, Yusei lands on the ground and he raises a thumbs up at the workers and his best friend. The workers thank him for the help as he runs up to Geo.

He said, "That was fun flying around the room, but I think I already kill my expectations for the field trip."

Geo gasps when he says that with a smile. "What do you mean? It's exciting for me! Shouldn't you be excited?"

Yusei doesn't have that sort of feeling just like Geo. He is just not interested in space like his friend because journeying the unknown doesn't seem to excite him. He knows that by going on a journey to space means to leave his loved ones, which he doesn't like. That sort of journey is what got him and his sister to be orphans. It's not like he hates space, he is just not interested in them.

Then someone calls Geo's name as they turn to see Aaron Boreal walking up to them. He said, "Geo, it's great to see you again since your last visit!"

"Hey there, Mr. Boreal!" Geo smiles when he says that.

Aaron notices Yusei as he introduces himself. "I'm Aaron Boreal and I want to thank you for fixing that special exhibit we have planned for the field trip tomorrow."

Yusei nods his head. "I'm Yusei Light and you're welcome." He picks up his toolbox and continues to talk to Aaron some more. "How come you and your workers don't fix the anti-gravity machine's problem before it got worse? If I hadn't fixed it today, then that machine would malfunction and fluctuates the gravity back and forth from no gravity to heavy gravity repeatedly. Please check the machine regularly and if there's a slight problem be sure to fix it."

Aaron chuckles, but he is surprise to hear that from Yusei. "Thanks for the tip. We'll be sure to do that."

"How do you know that would happen if it malfunctions?" Geo asks.

Yusei answers, "I once saw the blueprints of my father's anti-gravity machine when I was young. I did ask him about the malfunctioning part and he told me about that problem. By the way, I have good memory on remembering blueprints."

"Kevin did told me that you are Thomas's son," Aaron spoke. "Though the way you act reminds me of how Thomas would act."

Yusei wonders how Aaron knows his father. He first figures that Kevin told him about his father, but Geo explains to him that Aaron use to work with Kevin and Thomas before the death of the workers of Peace. Yusei is surprise to hear that Aaron use to work with his father because he doesn't know anyone else to be somewhat a part of the space station's destruction.

Then out of the blue, Aaron starts talking to Yusei about his father and his time working with him. He tells Yusei about how Thomas helps him how to reprogram NAZA's security program during a virus outbreak, which they manage to stop before it got close to the main system. Aaron told him another story of Thomas deactivates a malfunctioning generator that was set to explode within one hour. Geo listens to his story as if he's impressed, but Yusei listens to his story with a burning anger as he thinks his father sets up a challenge for him.

Aaron chuckles when he finishes his stories. "Thinking about those times made me think of how much an incredible person he is. He's a good friend that I made and he makes me feel like he gives me strength. So Yusei… what do you think about having bonds?"

Yusei bluntly answers, "I think having bonds is a good thing to have because humans are social creatures. By creating bonds with people, you gain some sort of strength to pass through the weight of reality and the world itself."

Aaron becomes satisfied with Yusei's answer and Yusei notices his smile as he puts on a smile. However, underneath Yusei's smile is a grim face. Deep down in his heart, he knows that having bonds can be a weakness as well. It is because there are people out there who would treat human relationship as a toy and tosses it away on a moment they feel like it. There's no such thing as honest people if they're just using others to achieve their own goals. Yusei considers having bonds is a double-edged sword because he gains strength from others and they become his weakness if they're put in danger or worse.

Then Aaron spoke, "It's good to know that you value friendship over selfishness. There are times when we need our friends to help us when we're in trouble. We humans and other beings must come together to overcome any obstacles that would bring us down.

"You're quite passionate with this whole bond thing," he said with a smirk.

"Mr. Boreal really cares about friendship," Geo said, "in fact, he befriends with most of the workers here, including my family. He even willingly helps them when they're in trouble, which makes it sound like what you would do."

Yusei slightly chuckles at that comment. He knows what Geo means by that because he too helps people, but he does it in his own power. Though he doesn't know how Aaron helps people, he decided not to continue the conversation because he has to get home and make dinner. The two teenagers say their goodbyes to Aaron as they leave AMAKEN and headed back home.

* * *

At an abandoned factory, Taurus is bored as he attacks some weak viruses in the area. He is disappointed that he loss to Yusei and the traitor, Omega-Xis. Because of that loss, King Cepheus puts him on standby and allows Cygnus to take command on retrieving the Andromeda Key. However, Cygnus doesn't do anything since Taurus's defeat. That blue swan only did is gathering viruses from all over the city and puts them inside in an EM Wave Cage from the Planet FM. When Taurus asks Cygnus about why is he gathering viruses, all he told him is that it is a part of his plan to retrieve the Andromeda Key.

Once Taurus is done beating his twentieth weak virus, he heads back inside the factory to see Cygnus putting in another virus into the cage. Seeing this, he becomes very angry as he charges at the swan when he's not looking. Cygnus notices that he's attacking him because Taurus makes a loud roar before he charges. He swiftly dodges the attack and stuns Taurus by using his beak and pecks him at the back of his neck.

Cygnus becomes angry as he asks, "Why are you attacking me for?"

Taurus turns to Cygnus and he angrily answers, "It's because you didn't do anything since my defeat! All you did is gathering viruses instead of trying to get the Andromeda Key back! At least do something before the king's reinforcements come!"

"I'm gathering these viruses as a part of my plan!" Cygnus explains, "Looking through my analysis from Mega Man's fights, including yours, I deduce that he can't keep up if there are multiple enemies. With these thousands of viruses, Mega Man will be defeated!"

Taurus smacks Cygnus at the back of his head out of anger. "Didn't I suggest that we should gang up on him before? Now you decided to gang up on him with viruses?"

"The problem about your suggestion was incomplete because we don't fully know his fighting capabilities. Since Mega Man doesn't have any allies, that means he has a bit of a trouble against an army. Having two FMians ganging up on him doesn't mean we get a clear victory."

As Cygnus is about to leave, Taurus asks him a question. He asks, "Why are you leaving?"

"During my time gathering viruses, I have found a perfect human host. I want to see how _ripe_ he is." Cygnus disappears, leaving Taurus to his lonesome.

Taurus snorts and crosses his arms. "Ripe? What is this human, a fruit-base one?"

* * *

Later that night at AMAKEN, the three workers are inside the laboratory working on something. The three workers are Kevin Stelar, Aaron Boreal, and Tom Dubius. These three guys are finishing up with the modifications of Tom's Flappack, which they felt really proud. Tom left the laboratory to go to the bathroom, leaving Kevin and Boreal to talk about some things.

Aaron starts the conversation by asking Kevin a question. He asks, "Do you think this Flappack would help get Tom to keep his job?"

"That depends," Kevin said in a solemn tone. "However, I don't believe this would stop Tom from getting fired. You and I both know that there are problems about this invention."

Aaron understands what he means. The Flappack is just a jetpack with wings and minus the whole jet part. The propulsion system only hovers the user and the wings help the user to ascend up in the air. Judging from the Flappack's design, there are a few flaws that many people would point out. Examples would be the weight limit for using the Flappack and how far it would take the user.

Then Kevin leaves the laboratory to talk with the Chief Director about the preparations. Aaron looks at the Flappack in a sad face as he wonders how he can save Tom from losing his job.

"Aaron, my boy!" said an old man's voice behind Aaron. "What is that device you're staring at?"

He jumps and turns to the owner of that voice. The owner happens to be the Chief Director, Bowen Parker. Bowen has dark skin, a body that is a bit bigger than Aaron's body, and his gray hair is nearly shaved. Since he is the Chief Director, he wears the AMAKEN uniform.

Aaron realizes that he's helping modifying Tom's invention in secret from the workers in AMAKEN. However, since he is alone with the director, Tom's invention is in danger to be not a secret. He wants to help Tom from not getting fired. So he quickly made a decision on how to help Tom.

He said, "This device is the Flappack and it is my invention."

"Really now?" Bowen gasps. "This is your invention, you say! Tell me, does it work?"

"It will be after a few modifications," he answers, which he recieves a pat on the back from the Chief Director.

"Splendid, my boy! I'll be waiting to see that invention once it is ready. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm heading to my office since I have a meeting with Kevin. Keep up the good work!"

After the Chief Director leaves the lab, Aaron sighs in relief. He has managed to fool the Chief Director into thinking that he is the one who made it. The reason why he made that sort of lie is to take the blame if Tom's Flappack wouldn't keep him away from being fired. By taking the blame, Tom wouldn't get fired and he still has his job until he made some improvements on his performance. What he did is the sign of an incredible man who cares about the people who he befriended with.

However, unbeknownst to him is that Tom has gotten back from his bathroom break and heard the conversation between Aaron and Bowen. Tom felt sick into his stomach because he has heard that Aaron has taken his invention. What he felt in his stomach is betrayal, just like when he loses his job a long time ago. Ever since that his old colleague betrays him, he have made a promise to not to trust anyone, even after getting a job at AMAKEN. When he met Kevin and Aaron, he felt that those guys are different than the workers from his previous job and he finally thought he could trust someone again. But after eavesdropping on the conversation, Tom misunderstood Aaron's intentions of him stealing his inventions as a betrayal of his trust and he wishes that it were not true. He prays deep down in his heart that Aaron isn't a traitor, but he doesn't know anymore because of his own first experience of being betrayed.

Then a voice speaks to him. That voice said, "That man is awful, isn't he?"

"Who's there?" Tom jerks his body to turn to where the voice is coming from, but there's no one there. "Am I losing my mind? Who is speaking to me?"

A blue light appears in front of him as it begins to take shape. Seeing this phenomenon, Tom drops down onto the floor out of fear. Tom is so scared that he couldn't muster up the strength to scream. The light finishes taking shape and it turns out to be the FMian swan named Cygnus.

"Who are you? A monster?" Tom points at the FMian while he shakes.

Cygnus shook his head and he bows to the human. "I am merely a benefactor. My name is Cygnus and I have to meet you, Tom Dubius. You're probably wondering how I know your name; well, that's because I've been watching you for quite some time. Can you believe what that human did to you? Taking the credit of something that you work hard to make… some friend he is."

"Stop it… That's not true…!"

"Why are you denying what you see? You can't keep denying this incident. Deep down, you know that you cannot trust anyone."

"That would also mean that I don't trust you!" Tom made a fierce glare when he says that.

Cygnus chuckles as if he is enjoying Tom's reaction. "You can trust me because I understand what it feels like to be betrayed by the ones you have trusted. So you have my sympathy and I want to give you power to make sure that no one can betray you."

"I… I don't need power…"

The FMian moves a closer to the human as if he's whispering to his ear. "Are you really sure? There's one thing I know about people like that man is that he loves to take advantage over the weak. Do you want to be taken advantage forever?"

Tom becomes hesitant. He doesn't know what to believe: Aaron's actions or the FMian's words. Then he remembers his first betrayal and he knows how much it hurts him. He doesn't to feel that pain again as he accepts this power that Cygnus is offering.

Cygnus is happy to hear that Tom accepted his offer as he went inside the human's Transer. He then said, "I'm glad that you accepted my offer. I'm going to teach you about your powers as an EM Wave Being."

"An EM Wave Being? You mean like Mega Man?" Tom remembers hearing the news about the Blue Bomber.

"That is right. Mega Man has formed a partnership with an alien that I know very well; however, that alien stole something from me and I need it back."

"That alien stole something?"

"Yes, he did. He betrays my trust just so he can obtain the Andromeda Key. The Andromeda Key is our last defense against invading forces, but if fell into the wrong hands, it can be used for destruction. Mega Man is being used as puppet for this alien and I need it back. So will you help me?"

Tom nods his head. "I will help you! Just tell me what I should do!"

A chuckling sound comes from Cygnus's voice within Tom's Transer. "Good… I have a plan that will solve both our problems." Tom's body glows blue as he disappears.

* * *

The next morning, Yusei is in class as he sees the excitement on his classmates' faces. There are a few minutes before Mr. Shepar enters the classroom to get the students as Yusei is taking a nap on his desk. When Sonia enters the classroom, everyone greets her and she greets back with a bright smile. Sonia went to her desk to see Yusei sleeping as she decided to poke fun before the teacher comes in.

She silently signals everyone in the classroom to stay quiet as she pulls out her ear clip headphones from her backpack. Everyone knows what she is doing as they watch her placing one ear clip headphone onto his open ear. Luna tries to intervene, but Geo stops her and covers her mouth because he wants to see his surprised face. As Sonia gently place the clip onto his ear, she plugs in the jack of the headphones into her Transer and raises the volume up to max. She pushes a button and Yusei quickly wakes up as he jumps out of his desk.

Yusei pulls the ear clip and he exclaims, "That music is loud! Who put this ear clip on my ear?" He looks at where the wire is connected and it happens to be connected to Sonia's Transer. He looks at Sonia who is giggling as if she's amused by his reaction. "I can't believe that you did that, Sonia. To be truthful, I never thought you're that mischievous."

"There are things you don't know about me," she said with a smile. "Even I want have fun a little."

Yusei chuckles. "I guess I understand that. We're young and we might as well seize the moment of having fun." Then he notices everyone looking at him and it made him nervous. "Why is everyone looking at me?"

"Are you really a teenager?" everyone in the classroom says in unison.

Yusei nearly fell off his chair when he heard everyone say that. He understands why they say that because he didn't get mad at Sonia and talks like an older sibling rather than his age. Even though there are times when he acts immature, he does act like a caring person despite he acts a bit harsh on others.

When Mr. Shepar enters the classroom, everyone in the classroom quickly heads to his or her desks. The teacher tells them the school bus is here to take them to AMAKEN for the field trip. He started to read a list with students' names and puts the students in pairs. Most of the students are hoping to be paired with Sonia; however, their hopes are crush when Mr. Shepar pairs Sonia with Yusei. This earns Yusei plenty of glares coming from his fellow classmates and he decides to prepare himself for the worse during this field trip.

Mr. Shepar took his students to the bus and everyone sits next to their respective partners. Yusei and Sonia sit at the back of the bus as Yusei allows Sonia to sit next to the window. Once every students and the teacher are in the bus, the bus starts moving to AMAKEN.

Geo, who is sitting in front of Yusei and Sonia and sitting next to a female student, talks to Yusei. He asks, "How is it like sitting next to a famous person?"

Yusei smirks and said, "You just like to poke fun at me, aren't you?" The two boys smile at each other and laughs.

Sonia doesn't understand why these boys are laughing, so she thought it's just a boy thing and doesn't want to pursue what they're thinking. As soon as Geo sits back down, she started to have a whispering conversation with Yusei. She whispers, "I talk with Nao during an collaboration event yesterday and she told me that she met you that one weekend."

"Oh… did she tell you about our conversation?"

The girl nods her head and she makes a gulping sound. "Yeah… Yusei… Am I causing you trouble?"

Yusei could lie to her and tell her that she's not causing him trouble, but he chose to be honest with her because sooner or later that trouble would come. He answers, "You may soon to be causing me trouble because of your fame, but I would not hold that against you. You want to know why. It's because I want to be your friend who only sees you as Sonia the person, not Sonia the famous idol. But I just couldn't stand people who are causing trouble because of a stupid reason."

"But…" Her voice began to tremble. "If I am causing you trouble, then you can just leave me."

Yusei immediately flicks her forehead, which made every student to gasp in shock. They couldn't believe that a teenage boy flicks the famous idol's forehead. They glare at the boy, but he just straight up ignores them and continues this whispering conversation with Sonia.

He said, "Don't say things like that. Ever since I talk to your idol friend, Nao, I started thinking about some things. I don't want to abandon you because of some sort of harassment. That's not who I am. Also…" He places his hands over Sonia's cheeks and forces her mouth to smile. "Smile, smile! Making a sad face like that would ruin that pretty face of yours."

Sonia's mind went blank for only three seconds, until her face becomes red. Her heart is beating pretty fast and she starts to fluster as she quickly turns her head towards the window. She couldn't believe that he say those things to her with a straight face. The idol tries to rationalize the situation and she thinks that he only says them because he doesn't want to make her sad. She believes that is his reason, but her feelings are saying otherwise and it makes her fluster even more.

Yusei finds Sonia's reaction amusing and he wonders if he is starting to act like his sister when she teases his female friends. He then proceeds to close his eyes and leans his back on his seat. He drifts off to sleep as a means to pass the time until the arrival of AMAKEN.

* * *

At AMAKEN, Aaron is looking around to find Tom. He and Kevin haven't seen him since he went to the bathroom yesterday and he was hoping to see him today. However, he hasn't seen him today either. Aaron knows Tom is too diligent when it comes to work and this is the first time he never sees Tom in his workplace. The reason why he wants to meet with Tom is because he wants to talk to him about the Flappack.

Kevin calls out Aaron's name to get his attention. "Aaron! I see the school bus coming towards the front! We should hurry to greet the students!" Then he notices his friend's sad face as he asks, "Are you worried about Tom?"

Aaron nods his head as his answer. He didn't say anything because he's too worried about Tom.

"Don't worry about it!" Kevin pats Aaron on the back. "I'm sure he'll turn up soon! Come on! Let's hurry and greet the students!" Aaron follows Kevin to the front entrance of the AMAKEN building.

When the school bus arrives at AMAKEN, the students get down from it. Yusei is still groggy from his short nap, while Sonia regains her composure from her early conversation with Yusei. The students, besides Yusei's friends, are all vex about Yusei's early action as they glare at the boy. That said boy pretends to ignore them as he starts to feel sleepier than normal.

Geo is concern for his friend's health as he asks, "Yusei, didn't you get enough sleep last night?"

"No…" Yusei yawns his answer to Geo's question. The sleepy teenage boy didn't want to explain why he's sleepy. The reason why he is sleepy happens last night during a training session.

* * *

Last night, while his sister was asleep, Yusei transforms as Mega Man to figure out how to use the Mega Buster more effectively in combat. However, due to its problems, Yusei just couldn't find any use of it.

"Mega, is there a way to boost the performance of the Mega Buster?" he asked as he defeated a Mettenna with a cannon arm buster that happened to be in the area.

The alien answers, "We could find 'special' data within the EM Wave World to power up the Mega Buster."

"Wait! What do you mean by special data?"

Omega-Xis explains to him that there are special data in the Wave World that can boost their Mega Buster's performance. These special data are irregulars in the EM Wave World; they look sort of like statics in the Wave World and they can absorb it to boost their Mega Buster's performance. However, it's pretty much random because they can't differentiate the data on how they improve which of the Mega Buster's power, rate of fire, range, or charging speed. Omega-Xis did see these statics during their time of when they're training.

"How come I have not noticed them before?" Yusei asked in a shock expression. "Also, why didn't you tell me this?"

Omega-Xis answers, "I need to confirm it with my eyes because I live in a planet full of EM Waves and I'm not sure if Earth's Wave World has those things that I have just mention. So that's why I decide to tell you about them now."

Yusei wants to hit the alien, but the alien is attached to his arm so it's like he is hitting himself. Then he looks up at the night sky to see the night sky and few higher Wave Roads. "Mega, do we have any aerial powers?"

"Huh? What do you mean?

"I mean do we have any flying abilities? Sooner or later we're going to face someone that can fly. I don't think any of my Battle Cards or my current skills can defeat a flying enemy." He remembers seeing Tom Dubius flying in front of him and Nao before and he worries if the enemy can fly.

Omega-Xis talks a solemn tone as he said, "I do know an FMian that can fly so we do have a problem. We don't have any flying abilities to counterattack that certain guy."

Yusei remembers how Omega-Xis taught him how to summon the Mega Buster and wonders if he can apply it to summon some sort of flying ability to counter the whole flying problem. He looks at his back and notices the backpack-sized back armor. The back armor does resemble some sort of jetpack, but he doesn't know how to confirm this theory. He could try to test it, but he knows how late it is and quickly went back to his room to sleep.

* * *

After remembering why he is very sleepy, he is sort of listening to Aaron and Kevin's greetings and speech about how AMAKEN works and such. However, due to his sleepiness, Yusei barely listens to what they say. Once they're done talking, the two AMAKEN workers take the students and the teacher to the exhibit hall.

When they got there, all of the students are impress to see the displays. The displays have various models ranging from the first man that ever walk on the moon to sending the space station, Peace up into space. However, Yusei isn't impressed because he has come to the exhibit yesterday. So when no one pays attention to the students, Yusei quietly leaves the exhibit hall and sits at one of the chairs in the lobby.

Yusei solemnly stares at the at the city of Echo Ridge through the big window of AMAKEN. He puts on his Visualizer to see the Wave World that appears within the city. He finds it very cool and thinks that he is looking at a retro-perspective of a far-distant future.

Omega-Xis appears next to him and he asks, "Is looking at the exhibit reminds you of your parents?"

"Sort of…" he replies with a slight chuckle. "No… it's more like a yes… Seeing the exhibit does remind me of how much my parents are excited to go to space and it's because of their excitement is what kills them."

"But you're not sure if your parents are dead, right?"

"It has been seven years since my parents' death, so I'm pretty sure that they're dead. Mega, why do you insist that my parents may be alive?"

Omega-Xis didn't say anything. Yusei knows that Omega-Xis doesn't have any sort of proof that his parents are alive. Even though the alien comes with his parents' Transers, that is still not enough to convince him. Yusei isn't sure the alien's reason of why he keeps insisting that. He figures it could be sympathy because of Omega-Xis's "revenge" story, but he doesn't want to dwell on it.

When the EM Wave alien disappears, Yusei took off his Visualizer and looks up the ceiling. Then Sonia's face appears over his face, which causes him to slip out of his seat. "Sonia! Don't surprise me like that! Also, how long were you standing behind me?"

"I just got here," she bluntly answers, "I notice that you were gone earlier, so I went to search for you." Then she yanks the Visualizer out of Yusei's hands and puts it on. She becomes amazed when she sees the Wave World through the glasses. "This is amazing, Yusei! Did you make these?"

"No, I didn't make them. Geo's dad made them and Geo gave it to me when I move back here. Though I am planning to improve the Visualizer's performance as soon as I find myself a junkyard."

"Junkyard?" Sonia tilts her head when she spoke out that last part.

Yusei explains to her that most of his inventions has some junkyard parts. He just likes to recycle some machine parts that many junkyards have.

"If you're looking for a junkyard, I do know a place where you can find one. There's a place called Dream Island; it's an amusement park in front, but in the back is a junkyard. The reason that I know about that is because I did an event there before."

Yusei appreciates Sonia for giving him the information as he thanks her with a bright smile on his face. "Thank you, Sonia! Is there any way to repay you for that information?"

Sonia is fluster when she heard him that he's going to repay her. She shook her head and answer, "You don't need to repay me!"

"Are you sure?" he asks and Sonia nods her head as her answer. He is fine with her answer because he is not entirely serious with the repayment thing. As he watches Sonia looking around the area, he wonders what she is looking for. "Sonia, what are you doing?"

She explains, "I'm just wondering who you were talking to." Her answer causes Yusei to gasp in shock and he started to sweat. "I didn't fully hear your conversation with your invisible friend earlier, but I notice that when you put on the Visualizer, you were talking to this invisible person."

Yusei is panicking underneath his smile as he replies, "I was just talking to myself. I have a tendency to do that."

Sonia raises an eyebrow as if she's very suspicious of Yusei. However, she shrugs it off and gives the Visualizer back to him. As she watches him putting his Visualizer on his forehead, she felt this warm feeling in her heart as her mouth begins to rise into a smile.

Then the two teenagers heard someone entering the research facility and they are shock to see Detective Copper and five of the Satella Police Officers. Their appearance also shocks the workers in the area as the officers are scanning the area through their Transers. Yusei becomes curious and he decides to approach them to know what's going on.

When Detective Copper notices that Yusei is coming up to him as he asks, "Kid, what do you want?" Yusei asks him why he is here as he answers, "We have detected an abnormal EM Wave within this facility, so we came here to destroy it."

Yusei wonders if it's because of Omega-Xis, but then he notices the two AMAKEN workers behind him and they look panicky. The workers are a female staff and the Chief Director.

The female staff said, "Sir! We have a problem at the exhibit!"

"What sort of problem?" the Chief Director asks with a concern look on his face.

The female staff answers, "The doors leading to the space room has been lock with the students trap inside!"

"Say what!" Yusei exclaims as he runs up to them. "What do you mean that the doors are lock? Also, my friends are trap inside there!"

The Chief Director looks at the boy and he asks, "Excuse me, but who are you?"

"I'm Yusei Light! I'm a student at Echo Ridge High School and a friend of Geo Stelar! Tell me what happen!"

"So you're Thomas and Marie's son," the Chief Director softly spoke.

Yusei quickly becomes impatient as he runs inside the exhibit hall. Sonia, the Chief Director, and the Satella Police Officers follow him.

When they arrive in front of the door that leads to the space room, Yusei quickly bangs on the door. He shouted, "Geo! Luna! Bud! Zack! Are you guys okay in there?"

Everyone watch Yusei banging on the door with a sad look on his or her faces. Detective Copper orders his men to find a way to open the door; however, they are interrupted by a man's laughter through the speakers of the facility. They wonder who has made that laugh as everyone notices the computer screen display walls change from a chart to a face of some man.

The man is skinny and his face is light blue and looks menacing. He wears teal and black body armor, white swan-like hood, white wings, and black talon-like leg armor. Both Yusei and the Chief Director recognize the man's face and they gasp because they know the identity of that man.

* * *

Inside the space room, Bud has been trying to force the door to open by using the charging tackle that he learns from Taurus before. Everyone in the space room wears a space suit that astronauts use when they're out of their space station. The reason why they're wearing those suits is because the room has no oxygen since the room supposed to act like the real outer space. Bud keeps trying to tackle down the door; however, due to the lack of gravity and ground, Bud didn't have enough force to bang the door. Then again, the door is made of hard metal, so that door isn't going to break down.

"Bud!" Geo calls out Bud's name. "That's enough! Don't waste your energy!"

Bud retorts, "But Geo! We have to get out of here!"

All of the students inside the room are panicking and one or two female students started crying. Luna and Mr. Shepar try to cheer up everyone's spirit, but the students' morale is dwindling down for every cheery word. Both Kevin and Aaron look at the student with a sad face as they turn to the screen on the interface of the sun.

The two workers know who the man on the screen is as Aaron asks, "Tom, why are you doing this?"

"Why am I doing this?" Tom repeats Aaron's question. Then he burst out of anger when he shouted, "I tell you why! You betray me, Aaron! You steal my invention and took all of the credit for it!"

Aaron knows what he means as he tries to reason with Tom. "Tom! It's not what you think! I—"

"Spare me with your lies! Also, I'm not Tom Dubius! I am Cygnus Wing! And I will get you back for betraying my trust!"

Aaron can tell that Tom is angry and is no longer to be reason with. He looks down at the ground with a sad face as he felt some sort of regret, leaving Kevin and Geo to be sad as well.

Mr. Shepar spoke, "Mr. Stelar, do you know who that man is?"

Kevin nods his head. "Yeah… That man is Tom Dubius and he is a worker here in AMAKEN."

Then Luna becomes angry as she yells, "Why the hell he traps us here? What do we do to deserve this?"

"Prez… Please calm down…" Zack is afraid from seeing Luna being angry.

Geo looks around and notice that both Yusei and Sonia aren't in the space room, which he is glad. He looks at the door as he prays that Yusei would find a way to get everyone out of here. During that time of praying, Tom quickly cuts off communication of the space room, causing the screen to be blank.

* * *

"Tom, why are you doing this?" the Chief Director asks in a panicky tone. During the time when he is trying to talk to Tom, the Satella Police Officers are trying to find some ways to get inside the space room.

"I'm doing this because I loss my trust in all of humanity," Tom answers, "I've been betrayed again because I'm a weakling who can easily get step on. But now I have power and I won't be step on again! Also, I should mention that due to the lack of oxygen in that room, the people are wearing space suits with an oxygen tank. I think you know what I mean, right?"

Everyone knows exactly what he means. The people who are inside the space room would sooner or later lose oxygen and they will die when the oxygen tank runs out. Sonia is frighten at the thought that she would lose her classmates, while Yusei is angry at Tom for EM Wave Changing with an FMian. Yusei couldn't hold back his anger as he runs up to the control panel that is the terminal controlling the space room's system. Everyone notices his action and they are shock to see him what he is doing.

Yusei pulls out a laser pointer, which actually has a setting to be a real laser. He twists the bottom of the pointer, where the power button is, to set the laser to cut through the metal panel of where the power cables are.

Tom notices Yusei's action as he asks, "Boy, what are you doing?"

"I'm getting my fellow classmates out," he answers with a smirk on his face. "If I yank out the power cables, then you have no control over the space room." When Yusei proceeds to do that, a powerful electrical current from the wire he grabs hit him. It causes him to fly out of the panel and made him crash land on the ground ten feet away.

"Yusei!" Sonia shouts as she checks on him. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," he answers, "I usually seen that kind of thing on TV… I never thought it actually happens."

Yusei grabs his laser pointer again, but someone grabs his arm and yanks him off the ground. He turns to see it is Alan Pryde who yanks him as the officer took the laser pointer off of his hand.

Alan spoke, "I know what you're going to do and I don't think it's a wise thing. Have you forgotten the last time when you used that pointer on some electrical equipment?"

Yusei chuckles as he remembers that incident where he causes a small explosion back in Harmony Town. "Fine, I won't do that again."

When Alan lets him go, Detective Copper approaches him. "Officer Pryde! What are you doing here?"

"I follow you here when I heard that AMAKEN has an abnormal EM Waves," he answers, "Since I'm friends with Yusei here, I'm generally worried about him."

"I see…" the detective solemnly spoke as he looks at Yusei. Then he quickly orders Alan to take both Yusei and Sonia out of the exhibit hall since they would get in the way.

"You got it, sir!" Alan salutes as he takes the two teenagers out of the research facility.

When they got to the lobby area, the two teenagers are getting worried about the safety of their classmates. Alan started calm them down by saying, "I'm sure your friends would be fine! We are a part of the Satella Police and we'll save them! So you two don't make that sad face!"

Sonia is happy to hear that, but Yusei isn't. "I'm going to the bathroom!" he spoke as he leaves the lobby area.

"Yusei…" Sonia mutters as she sadly watches the boy leaving.

"Don't you worry about him," Alan said with a happy smile on his face. "I know him pretty well and I believe he's going to save his classmates behind the scenes."

Sonia tilts her head. "How will he do that?"

Alan just chuckles as he replies, "In his own way."

The teenage idol couldn't understand his cryptic sentence. She does feel like that Alan has some experience dealing with Yusei doing things behind his back, but she chose not to pry it because she doesn't feel like listening to the story without Yusei to confirm Alan's story. When she heard that Yusei is going to save their classmates, she's wondering what she has been doing right now. She wishes that she has something to do to help, but she doesn't know how.

* * *

"Mega, who is the FMian now?" Yusei asks as he's hiding in a cleaning supply's closet.

"That FMian is Cygnus," Omega-Xis answers. "He's the FMian that can fly when he EM Wave Change."

"Great…" Yusei sighs as he scratches the back of his head. "So what kind of person is this Cygnus character?"

Omega-Xis explains, "Cygnus is one of the top tactic generals and he is an expert at gathering information. He must have taken the time to study us during our little training session and must have found out our weaknesses. Kid, it's time to go buck wild!"

Yusei nods his head as he inserts the blue Battle Card into his Transer. "EM Wave Change! Yusei Light, on the air!" he said as his belt glows and he transforms into Mega Man. Omega-Xis change their Wave Frequency to enter the Wave World as they traverse the Wave Road to the space room's computer system.

The Satella Police Officers in the exhibit hall has detected Yusei's EM Wave presence in the Wave World. Though they don't know who coming towards the space room, but that doesn't stop Detective Copper to attack the unknown EM Wave Being. Yusei manages to dodge their assault as he phases through the walls and warp inside the space room's computer system. The Satella Police have lost Yusei's presence as they quickly give up and find a way to open the space room's doors.

* * *

Meanwhile at the lobby area, Sonia tries to sneak away to find Yusei. However, Alan stops her as he asks, "Where do you think you're going?"

"I'm just going to use the bathroom," she lies with a smile on her face.

Alan puts on a gentle smile as he said, "I know you're lying. Let me guess, you want to find Yusei and see if he needs help with something. If that's the case, then how would you help him?"

Sonia can feel that face is dripping with sweat. She knows that she couldn't think of a new lie to trick the officer. But when he asks her that question, she doesn't know how to answer that. She has no idea how Yusei is going to save their classmates and how is she going to help. As she's in deep thought into figuring a way out of the conversation, she notices that her eyelids are very heavy. She started to feel faint as she fell onto someone's arms behind her. The idol starts to fall asleep.

Alan looks at the mysterious person and said, "Keep an eye on the idol here while I'm away. It seems like things are going to be rough for poor little Yusei." The mysterious figure nods their head as they place Sonia on the chair and watch Alan leaving the area.


	12. The Battle Takes Flight

Disclaimer: I don't own any Battle Cards and Star Force characters. I do own a few original characters.

Chapter 12: The Battle Takes Flight

The space room's computer space is like an actual galaxy with the EM Wave platforms and roads' colors being green and purple. Yusei, in his Mega Man form, appears at the Far East side at where the main system of this computer space is. As the teenage boy looks around, Omega-Xis starts a conversation with him.

He said, "Be careful, kid. We don't know what Cygnus has in store for us."

Yusei nods his head as he ventures the computer space. He is being cautious of his surroundings as he runs like a soldier marching through enemy territory. He quickly hides behind a small wall made of solid EM Waves. He took a slight peek and found out that the next path is clear of enemies. Just as he is about to take another movement, he felt a shiver down his spine as he heard the sound of a cannon fire behind him. Yusei dodges the attack, which causes an explosion behind him. He wonders who is attacking him and he is shock to see about twenty cannon and Mettenna viruses gathering around him.

"Where all these viruses coming from?" Yusei shouts as he readies his self from pulling out a Battle Card.

"These viruses work for me," Cygnus voice echoes around Yusei.

Tom in his EM Wave form appears hovering behind the twenty viruses. He bows to Yusei and said, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mega Man. I am Cygnus Wing."

"I know who you really are, Mr. Dubius!" Yusei retorts. "Why are you putting these students in a hostage situation? They have nothing to do with your problem!"

"They do serve a purpose," Cygnus spoke, "to lure you here!"

"Me? Why me?"

Tom spoke, "Mega Man… you may not believe me, but you shouldn't trust Omega-Xis, the traitor. He is only using you for his own end."

"What do you mean?"

"Cygnus told me that he stole the Andromeda Key that controls the Planet FM's last defense, Andromeda! He's going to use Andromeda to destroy this planet!"

Yusei tilts his head. "If that were the case, wouldn't the planet be destroyed a long time ago? Also, how is he using me?"

"He's using you because he needs a place to hide from the FMians. He is also using you as a battery to charge the Andromeda Key. Am I right, Cygnus?"

The FMian, Cygnus, appears next to Tom. "That is right, Tom. Though the Andromeda Key needs negative emotion to activate its power to control Andromeda."

Yusei got curious when Cygnus spoke about negative emotion; however, he doesn't want to pry the information because he isn't sure if that's true. He figures that Cygnus told a lie by saying that he is a victim for the traitor. In a normal circumstance, Yusei would immediately doubt Omega-Xis. However, as the more time he spends with the alien, he grows to trust him with a small amount of doubt. The only thing he doubts is his enemy who is treating the lives of innocent bystanders as a means to get him here.

"I don't care what you say!" Yusei shows his anger from his tone. "There's no way I can trust someone who uses the lives of innocent people who have nothing to do with this!"

"I see… that's too bad then." Cygnus whistles, which epically echoes throughout the computer space. Coming out of nowhere are viruses surrounding Yusei as he disappears.

"I'll leave them to you," said Tom as he flies away.

"Where do you think you're going?" Yusei shouts. "Get back here!"

Before he can chase after them, the viruses attack him. Yusei dodges the attack by jumping over them; however, a cannon virus fires a shot at him. The shot hits him causing him to fall in the middle of Fire Boxer viruses. The Boxers didn't waste any time to give Yusei a surround beating as they punch his face, arm, and gut. A Boxer did an uppercut that sends him flying towards a firing squad of cannon and bomb launcher viruses. Those viruses fire their shots at him, which causes an explosion with smoke covering Yusei's body. When the smoke clears, they gasped when they see that Yusei's body disappears. They frantically look around to find him, but he's nowhere in sight.

At a platform a bit far away from the viruses is a line of rockets that acts as a wall. Appearing behind the wall is Yusei who uses the Invis Battle Card to escape the firing squad. He breathes very heavily as his knees touches the ground.

"Kid, are you okay?" Omega-Xis asks out of concern over Yusei's health.

"I'm fine," he pants his answer. He pulls out a Battle Card from his deck box and his hands begins to shake. "Man, Ayane is going to have a hissy-fit after this. Battle Card! Recovery!"

After he inserts the Battle Card into his Transer, his body begins to glow in a green aura. His wounded body begins to heal as the bruises on his body have partially disappeared. Even though he is partially healed, he still feels tired and his body feels even more sluggish than after his fight with Taurus Fire. He didn't realized that these viruses can do so much damage to him when they're working together like an army. He knows that he is not prepare to face an army since the only number of viruses he can defeat on his own is fifteen at least.

Yusei starts to chuckle, which sounds like he's unsettle with the whole situation. "I think Cygnus has got us now. There's no way we can take down a whole army of viruses."

"We could use a Battle Card…"

Yusei shook his head. "I only have thirty, or should I say twenty-eight, Battle Cards in my deck box. I don't have any Battle Cards that can delete a large army and I don't want to waste any of them for our upcoming battle against Tom. Sometimes I wish Nicole was here, she could help me deal with these guys quickly without wasting any of my Battle Cards."

"Nicole…? Who's Nicole?"

"She was my partner during my time when I was a notorious Robin Hood-like Hacker," he answers in a sad tone. He sadly looks down at the EM Wave ground he's sitting on. "She always help me with difficult situations, including an army of viruses this large."

"What happen to your partner?"

Yusei is hesitant to answer as his body trembles in fear. Omega-Xis notices this as he wonders why the guy who quickly accepts that his parents are dead to be trembling.

"I killed her," Yusei spoke and that surprises the alien. He looks at his hands and he continues, "I killed her with my own two hands."

Seeing how Yusei is acting has made Omega-Xis to understand him a bit more. "Is that the reason why you chose not to kill Taurus?"

Before Yusei can say anything, he notices a small yellow bird hovering in the air. He wonders what's that bird doing here. That is until he notices that the bird is squawking very loudly as soon as the bird looks at him. The bird's squawking has alerted Yusei's position to the army of viruses as he quickly runs away while he's being chase.

The viruses that can shoot try to shoot him down, but they all miss. Yusei keeps running until he gains some distance away from them so he can strategize his attack. However, the viruses didn't give him the chance to get some space. The viruses have chased him down at the edge of the last platform with no other paths except the one where he's coming from. Feeling like he's trap in a corner, Yusei turns to the viruses as he acts like a wild animal snarling at them.

Though Yusei has gotten a bit curious if he jumps off the platform. He knows that below the platform is some sort of void, but he doesn't know what happens if he jumps into the void. Whether he wants to take a chance, he doesn't want to risk his life by jumping into the void. Before Yusei can pull out a Battle Card, he heard a yell echoing around him.

"Giga Card! Destroy Missile!" the mysterious voice yelled as a barrage of missiles rain down upon the viruses, deleting most of them.

When the missiles stop raining down, a man wearing red armor is standing in front of him. Yusei also notices that this red armored man has a glowing red sword on his left arm.

"Thank you, but… who are you?" Yusei asks as he wonders if this man is a friend or foe.

The man turns to him and he answers, "My name is Proto Man and I'm here to help. But first, let me take care of these viruses first. Battle Card! Typhoon Dance!" He inserts the Battle Card into his glowing sword, which Yusei thinks is his Transer, and his whole body is engulfed into a tornado.

The viruses try to get away, but the tornado sucks them in, whether they're big or small. As soon as they get inside of the tornado, Proto Man is cutting them down to pieces. After the viruses in front of the pathway are gone, the tornado stops and Proto Man walks up to Yusei.

"So… Mega Man, are you okay?"

"Yeah." Yusei nods his head. "If you hadn't shown up, I would have probably done a leap of faith to get away from them." Then Proto Man tosses him a deck box and Yusei catches it. "A Battle Card deck box? Why are you giving me this?"

"You need to be prepared when you're going up against an army. This deck box has Battle Cards from my own personal collection."

"I promise you that I will give it back to you as soon as we save the people from the space room."

Proto Man punches Yusei at his shoulder with a smirk on his face. "You better! Oh, by the way, I'm your ally. You and your alien partner don't need to be so wary of me."

Yusei gasps, "How do you know that I have an alien with me?"

"We don't have time to continue this," Proto Man spoke, "We should hurry and save the civilians." With that said, Proto Man runs up ahead with Yusei following him.

Yusei follows Proto Man's plan on reaching Tom's location. Proto Man handles close combat, while Yusei does the shooting. Yusei uses any Battle Cards that shoots is more powerful than the power of his Mega Buster.

The two EM Wave Warriors got attack and ambush by viruses when they run towards Tom and Cygnus. Proto Man cuts up the ground viruses and Yusei shoots down viruses that can fly in the air, including Cygnus's scouts. During their fight against these viruses, Yusei has realized that he and Proto Man have pretty good teamwork, which is strange since this is his first time meeting him. When they reach up to the platform where a large amount of viruses, the big viruses, are waiting.

"Judging from these viruses, I say that we're getting close to Tom's location." Yusei dodges an axe attack from a virus as he fire a cannon shot from his purple arm cannon, which is called the Heavy Cannon.

A knight virus slashes at Proto Man, but Proto Man jumps over the virus to avoid the attack and stabs the virus in the back causing it to be deleted. "I'll handle these viruses! Hurry and save the people!"

"But I can't just leave you alone!" Yusei yells as he kicks away the axe-wielding virus. "I don't want anymore innocent dying!"

Proto Man smirks. "I'm not going to die that easily! Battle Card! Berserk Sword!" He inserts the Battle Card into his Transer and he disappears.

Then the axe-wielding virus that Yusei kicks got slash three times and then it got deleted. Proto Man reappears in front of Yusei with a smile on his face.

"Were you saying?"

Yusei is dumbfounded at first, but he feels reassure that Proto Man can handle things on his own. He left the area as he puts his trust in Proto Man to handle the viruses while he goes to take Tom out. The other viruses try to stop Yusei, but Proto Man stops them as he continues to fight them off.

* * *

Meanwhile at the space room, the students are panicking over the situation. They're stuck inside a room, wearing spacesuits to live temporary since there is no oxygen, and a crazy person is monitoring them in the room's computer systems. All hope is loss to these young people.

A girl is crying, "I want to go home!" And she starts sobbing in her spacesuit. Hearing her crying has even lessens their spirits.

"This sucks!" Bud cries out in anger. "We're going to die soon! I don't want to die in a spacesuit!"

"I don't want to die too!" Zack agrees with Bud as he cries.

Luna can't stand to see everyone losing hope so quickly. She yells, "Everyone calm down! We're going to be saved so don't lose hope!"

"P-Prez!" A male student spoke in shock. "Aren't you afraid? I mean we don't have much time left until our oxygen tanks are empty."

"I am afraid to die! But that doesn't mean we give up! We just keep believing that someone can save us!"

The adults in the room; Kevin Stelar, Mr. Shepar, and Aaron Boreal, are happy to see that there's someone trying to keep everyone's spirits up. Aaron turns to the monitor to see Tom watching them in a serious manner.

"Tom! Let these kids out!" Aaron shouts.

"I can't do that, Aaron," says Tom, "and my name is Cygnus Wing."

"Listen, Tom! There has to be some misunderstanding! I didn't betray you!"

* * *

"Don't believe him, Tom. He's only saying that to save his own life." Cygnus floats next to Tom.

Tom and Cygnus are in the main computer system of the computer space. Tom is watching his trapped victims from the space room's security cameras to the monitors in the Wave World. Cygnus is typing something on the EM Wave keyboard as if he is activating some sort of code.

"I understand, Cygnus. By the way, are you sure it's a good idea to copy some data off of AMAKEN's system?"

"It is," Cygnus spoke. "It's equal exchange. I give you power and you give me something of equal value, which is AMAKEN's data." After copying the data out of the system, he absorbs the data into his EM Wave body.

"This stops now!"

Both Tom and Cygnus heard Yusei's voice as he turns to him. They're astonished to see Yusei here since the last time they saw was when they left him with an army of viruses.

"Mega Man!" Cygnus gasps. "How do you get here?"

Yusei inserts a Battle Card into his Transer and his arm transforms into a green long sword. He points the tip of the blade at Tom and he said, "Mr. Dubius, it's time you stop this. You're endangering innocent people's lives over a misunderstanding. Don't you think you're quick to judge Mr. Boreal's actions without even talking to him?"

Then Tom answers, "What about you, huh? That alien you're working with isn't exactly trustworthy."

"Don't dodge the question!" Yusei is irritated for Tom trying to shift the topic around. "At least my alien didn't suggest me to trap people in a lock room with a lack of oxygen! I don't care what kind of reason you are trying to make, but my alien isn't the bad guy! If I were you, compare your current actions to mine's."

Tom was taken aback from Yusei's words. He truly believes Cygnus is the good guy who is helping him to get some good payback for Aaron betraying his trust. He even believes Cygnus's story about Omega-Xis stealing the Andromeda Key and he will use it to destroy Earth. However, after hearing Yusei's opinion, he's starting to have some doubts.

Yusei notices Tom's doubts as he figures that reasoning with him is different from the time he reasons with Bud. "Mr. Dubius, I want you to think. Does Mr. Boreal look like a person who betrays people? Think back at the times when Mr. Boreal generally helps you and compare that to my question."

He didn't answer Yusei's question. Tom remembers that Aaron is the one who gave him the job in AMAKEN. More doubts is starting to weigh on him as he ignores Cygnus's pleads to not listen to Yusei.

Yusei lowers his sword and uses his other hand to point at him. "Also, I'm calling your threat a bluff!"

"W-What do you mean?" Tom asks in a stuttered tone.

"I know people like you," said Yusei as if he's doing psychoanalysis on Tom's actions. "People like you don't have the courage to take the heinous action after being betrayed. Tell me, is that room really without oxygen?"

The people who are listening through the monitors that Tom leaves on, they are asking Yusei what he means. Kevin even points out that he made sure that the room has no oxygen before Tom took over the controls. With those factors pointed out, calling Tom's threat a bluff is hard to reassure the trapped victims.

"Kevin's right!" Tom agrees, but he still feels scared.

"Then let's prove my reason with a simple trust exercise!" Yusei smiles have caused everyone to feel uneasy, including Omega-Xis since he knows Yusei cares about the safety of others than himself. "Mr. Boreal, how much do you trust Tom?"

Mr. Boreal answers, "I trust him as a friend!"

"Even if it means that you trust him with your life on the line?"

"Yes, I would!" Aaron answers without any sort of hesitation, which surprises everyone, including Tom himself.

Then everyone screams when they saw Aaron removing his space helmet. Mr. Shepar tries to stop him from doing that, but it's already too late. Everyone tries to cover his or her eyes from watching someone going to die; however…

"Hey… There's oxygen in the room!" Aaron exclaimed and it surprises everyone. "It's thin, but there's definitely oxygen in the room. I know I can trust Tom!"

"But it's Mega Man who made that argument," said Tom, "What happen if I'm not bluffing? If Mega Man asks you to remove that helmet in a room with no oxygen, you would have died!"

"Well, it is a gamble…" Yusei freely admits it, which is more surprising for everyone.

"It's a gamble! Then why?"

Yusei made a gentle smile as he answer, "It's because I trust humanity. Even though I don't know much about you, but I can trust that you still have some humanity in you to know what's right and wrong. Also, I think you want to know the truth behind the misunderstanding."

"I want to know the truth…" Tom mutters as he looks at his shaking hands.

Yusei smiles, but for some reason, he thought this situation is too easy. He knows that simply talking to Tom hasn't proven the fact that Cygnus is done. In other words, he knows that sooner or later that Cygnus would take over Tom's body. And he is right.

"I know I shouldn't trust a human…" Cygnus voice can be heard from Tom's mouth as he roars and turns to Yusei. "But he already made his uses. Now Mega Man, I'll be taking that key from you once I rip it out of that traitor's body."

"I like to see you try!" Yusei charges and he tries to attack Cygnus who is controlling Tom's body. However, Cygnus avoids the attack by flying up in the air. "Yep," Yusei smirks, "this guy is going to be a tough enemy to beat."

"Cygnus Feathers!" Cygnus shouted as he flaps his wings. A barrage of feathers came out of the flapping wings as they're flying towards Yusei.

"Battle Card! Barrier!" Yusei inserts the Battle Card into his Transer and he raises his non-sword hand in the air to summon a thin barrier that acts like a bubble around his body.

The barrier manages the block some of the feathers, but it shatter as soon as more feathers keep striking it. When the barrier is gone, Yusei got hit by about ten or twenty feathers. The feathers felt like gunshots to Yusei despite that he is in his EM Wave form and he fells onto the ground, still feeling the pain from the feathers.

"Damn… I know I should've dodge it…"

"Kid! Look out!" Omega-Xis calls out when Cygnus appears behind Yusei.

"Dancing Swan!" Cygnus twirls his body that causes him to generate a whirlwind and he is moving towards Yusei at the speed of a car driving at the speed limit of a freeway.

Yusei quickly pulls out a Battle Card and he said, "Battle Card! Plasma Gun!" He inserts the Battle Card to transform his sword into the Plasma Gun.

He then jumps over Cygnus's head and aims his Plasma Gun at the center of the whirlwind. He fires a plasma bullet that hits Cygnus and stuns his movement for a moment. Yusei quickly runs up to Cygnus and grabs him by the arms to immobilize him.

"Battle Card! Ghost Pulse!" He inserts the Battle Card into his Transer and his body starts to emit sound waves that hurt the victim that he's holding.

"Damn you…!" Cygnus grunts as soon as Yusei lets him go. He tries to move, but his body isn't responding. "What did you do to my body?"

"It's not your body to begin with!" Yusei knows that the Ghost Pulse Battle Card has stunned his movements even more, which gives him even more opportunities to take the FMian down. "Time to use Proto Man's Battle Cards. Battle Card! Brave Sword!" Yusei's arm transforms into a golden double-edged sword and attacks Cygnus with it.

Before Yusei can attack him again, three knight viruses ambush him. The knights attack him, but Yusei dodges and blocks the attacks.

"Kid!" Omega-Xis gets Yusei's attention. "Cygnus is getting away!"

Yusei turns to where Cygnus is and he notices that he's leaving the area. He wants to chase after him, but first he has to deal with the three viruses. Yusei kicks one of the viruses away and stabs the virus that charges him from his left, which causes that virus to be deleted. The other virus tries to stab Yusei from the back, but he jumps over its head and slices its back that deletes it. As for the last knight virus, he and the virus try to do a samurai showdown with their swords. They took a moment to glare at each other and in a single flash, they both strike at each other and the virus got deleted while Yusei is still standing.

"Good job!" Omega-Xis praises Yusei's actions. "Lets hurry and go after Cygnus!" Yusei nods his head and he gave chase after Cygnus.

On the pathway where the FMians run from, Cygnus feels irritated because he can't believe that his plan has failed. He didn't anticipated that Yusei and the traitor has made their way over to him since he has a large army of viruses in the computer space. Cygnus wants to pulse-out of the Wave World, but for some reason, something is interfering with his ability.

"Why can't I get out? Damn it!"

"Cygnus!" Yusei yells to get the FMian's attention to see him running towards him. "Battle Card! Plus Cannon!" His sword transforms into a yellow cannon and he aims at Cygnus and he fires off five cannon shots.

Cygnus flies up in the air to dodge the artillery fire. He retaliates by firing his feathers at the Blue Warrior. Due to the narrow pathway that Yusei is on, and the fact that he knows he can't fly like him, he knows that there's no way to dodge the feathers.

Yusei fires off shots to destroy some incoming projectiles, but the feathers are too fast for him as some have managed to hit him. He finally realizes that he can't take keep firing at the feathers as he jumps back to get away from the feathers.

"I got you!" Cygnus exclaims as he snaps his fingers to summon five small black birds and one small white bird surrounding Yusei.

The birds huddled together with Yusei. He felt like the birds are squeezing the life out of him as they lift him off the Wave Road. The birds bring him over the abyss underneath the EM Wave Platforms. Yusei knows what they're trying to do.

"If you order these birds to drop me down in that abyss, you're going to lose your precious Andromeda Key!" Yusei tries to reason with Cygnus with that argument.

Cygnus laughs at Yusei's naivety. "Omega-Xis must have told you that the Andromeda Key can't be destroyed by any means. Once your body is gone, I'll be taking the key out of your deleted corpse. Though I'm not sure if that abyss can delete you." He orders his birds to drop him, which happens as Yusei starts falling into the abyss.

"Kid!" Omega-Xis screams. "You better have a quick idea before we're going to be gone for good!"

Yusei wants to panic and scream like Omega-Xis, but for reason he doesn't want to. He closes his eyes and he clears his mind from all distractions. In his mind, he starts to picture a jetpack on his back. Yusei remembers when Omega-Xis instructs him to imagined the Mega Buster and he should apply that into creating a jetpack to save their life. And it works as his back has two small rocket nozzles at the bottom and they ignite causing Yusei to fly up in the air.

This surprises Cygnus as he shouted, "You can fly! That's not in the data!"

"Even I'm shock!" Omega-Xis exclaims.

Yusei hovers at the same level of air in front of Cygnus with a smirk on his face. "You should really update that data right now. You see… I'm full of surprises."

Angered by Yusei's remark, Cygnus calls in his little birds and orders them to attack him. Unknown to Cygnus is that Yusei has fully charged his Mega Buster and fires a charged shot at the white bird causing the other birds to disappear. Cygnus is shock again since Yusei has discovered his little birds' flaw in battle, which is by destroying the odd bird in a group of birds of the same color, can cause them to disappear.

"Time to finish this!" Yusei pulls out the golden Battle Card and inserts it into his Transer.

"Finisher! Mega Kick!" the belt shouts as it glows bright green. The bright light sends its electricity into Yusei's right leg.

The rocket nozzles from Yusei's back switches from the bottom to top so he can direct his flying kick towards Cygnus. He flies towards Cygnus as the FMian tries to retaliate by firing feathers at him. However, the speed that Yusei's flying kick is going to has nullified Cygnus's projectiles as they're knocked away. Yusei's flying kick has hit Cygnus in the chest, causing him to be separated from Tom's body. The FMian disappears while Tom starts to fall, but Yusei catches him and he flies back to Proto Man just in time to see him finishing off the last remaining viruses.

Proto Man claps as he praises Yusei's actions. "Good job at defeating Cygnus! By the way, is that man okay?"

After Yusei checks Tom's pulse from his neck, he sighs in relief. "He's fine. He's only unconscious."

"Also, what happened to the FMian?"

Yusei scratches his head. "I don't know. He must have gotten away somehow, but it's not like I'm going to chase after him."

He hands Proto Man the unconscious Tom as he walks up to the main system to release the space room's trapped victims. After that, they got out of the computer space by becoming beams shooting up at the sky.

* * *

The doors of the space room have been opened, which surprises the Satella Police Officers. Coming out of the room are the victims who are happy to be out of that room as they remove their space helmets. Seeing them cheering has made the officers happy. Then a bright light blinds everyone in the area, which surprises everyone. When the light dies down, the unconscious Tom appears on the ground. Everyone wonders how Tom appear like that, until someone spoke out Mega Man's name and it got the police to search for the Blue Warrior.

* * *

At the rooftop of AMAKEN, Yusei wants to talk to Proto Man; however, he notices that he is nowhere to be found. He figures that Proto Man must have leave the area when they make their way to the rooftop. Despite that rude leave, Yusei felt relief to know that he got an ally to fight against the FMians. Omega-Xis, on the other hand, is skeptical about this Proto Man person. The alien isn't sure that this Red Warrior is someone that he and Yusei should trust. He keeps his opinion about Proto Man to himself as he decides to watch these events unfold.

When Yusei transforms back into his human self, he felt his body is in extreme pain as he collapses onto the ground. Yusei chuckles as a way to shrug off this painful feeling as he said, "Just great. Now how can I explain this to my classmates."

Then Omega-Xis suggests, "Why not use that miracle medicine that your friend of Choina gave you?"

"I didn't bring it with me. Then again, I think I'm starting to run out of it pretty soon. I should email my friend to send me more of that medicine."

Then he notices a pair of black high-heels in front of his face. He looks up and saw a woman wearing a long black trench coat, pair of black gloves, a black bowl hat, black-tinted glasses, and a scarf covering her mouth. Looking at her, Yusei wonders why she is wearing those things in a somewhat warm weather. He stops with his mental joke about this woman's choice of clothing as he wonders who this woman is. He also wonders if she saw him transforming out of his Mega Man form. He gulps in fear from looking at that woman.

The woman giggles as she spoke, "Don't need to be so wary of me. Proto Man asks me to help you."

"You're Proto Man's ally?"

The woman pulls out a black gun and seeing that gun scares Yusei. She pulls out a weird Battle Card that is red and white like an ambulance. She inserts the Battle Card into the gun's barrel that looks like a device similar to how the Transer reads the Battle Cards. She closes the barrel into the gun and spins it, which causes sparks to be shown during when the barrel spins.

"Burst! Ambulance!" A high-pitch male's voice yells out from the gun.

The woman points the gun at Yusei and pulls the trigger. When that happens, the barrel stops spinning and a loud banging sound can be heard. Though instead of a bullet, a rainbow glowing beam engulfs Yusei's body. Inside that light, Yusei starts to feel his pain is going away at a rapid rate. He doesn't understand what is happening to his pain, but all he did know is that he won't need any more excuses to tell his sister about today's injury. The beam disappears as Yusei gets up and he moves his body to know that his body is fully healed.

"Uh, thanks." He scratches his head. "Who are you? You say that you're Proto Man's ally and that means that I can trust you."

The woman giggles. "You surely trust people who just help you so easily. I'm starting to wonder if you just trust anyone who just save your life."

Yusei shrugs with a smile on his face. "I just don't know why. It must because I trust my gut, that's all. So answer my question!"

The woman didn't say anything. She turns her back towards Yusei and she hums some random tune. Her humming stops as she said, "You should head to the ground floor. If you don't, Tom would be taken away with a very nasty label."

Her words have reminded Yusei that Tom did make a threat when the Satella Police follows him to the exhibition hall. Tom would be sent to jail and the reports would label his actions as "attempted murder." Also, the students are victims of that threat, so that would mean that the public wouldn't forgive him despite the fact that his reasons are misunderstood. He groans and he quickly left the area, leaving the woman to be alone.

"I guess I should take my leave as well," said the woman as she disintegrates into particles of light until she's gone into the wind.

* * *

Yusei uses the stairs to reach back down to the lobby area because it's much faster than the elevator. When he gets down to the lobby, he saw Alan sitting next to a sleeping Sonia.

He approaches Alan by saying, "Hey, Alan! Why is Sonia sleeping?"

"She just got bored waiting for you," said Alan, "You took a long time in the bathroom, you know!"

Yusei ignores Alan's comment as he shakes Sonia's body to wake her up. "Sonia! Wake up! If you don't wake up now, I will slap you!"

The idol slowly opens her eyes as she yawns, "Morning, Yusei. What's up?"

"We have to get the exhibition hall! Our classmates are finally free and safe!"

Her eyes are wide open with surprise. "Really?" she gasps. "You better not be lying!"

"I'm not!" Yusei shakes his head as she drags Sonia to the exhibition hall. "Let's hurry and go! Hurry! Hurry!"

Alan follows them and he finds it amusing to see Sonia to be flustered to have Yusei dragging her by her hand. When they got to the exhibition hall, they see the students are acting like a mob slandering Tom, calling him a monster for putting them their lives in danger. The Satella Police tries to calm down the mob as they surround the sad-looking Tom to protect him.

Seeing this scene has made Yusei mad as he yells, "That's enough!"

His yell has made everyone in the room to be silent as he runs up to them. He glares at his fellow classmates and he couldn't believe what they're doing. What he sees isn't the act of kind humans, but monsters who just picks on the person who isn't defending himself.

"You guys make me sick," he said in a stern tone. "What gives you the right to pick on him?"

Bud spoke, "B-but Yusei! That guy just almost killed us!"

"Y-yeah!" Zack agrees. "Even though Mega Man and Mr. Boreal points out his bluff, it doesn't mean that we can forgive him!"

"Really?" Yusei clicks his tongue. "Can I ask you this: do you guys ever experienced betrayal?"

No one answers his question. They couldn't answer it because they never experienced betrayal before. All they do know is to make Brother-Bands with people they know are their friends. The adults in the room are listening this and they're surprise that a high school boy is trying to reason with the mob.

Then Geo said, "None of us have experienced the betrayal that Mr. Dubius have. If I do have someone betraying my trust, I guess even I would do the same what he did."

Yusei smiles at Geo's words. "Well said there, Geo! What about you, Miss Class President?" All eyes turn to Luna.

Without any hesitation, Luna nods her head as her answer. "I have to agree with both Geo and Yusei. The misunderstanding only blinds this man to do this sort of crime. I too have experienced a misunderstanding that makes do something that I would regret." She remembers when she threatens Bud and how he transforms into Taurus Fire to kill her. She clenches her hands into a fist and she gritted her teeth for remembering that.

This made Yusei smile as he solemnly turns to Tom. "Mr. Dubius… I may have defended you from my classmates, but what you did was still a crime. It doesn't matter who you should blame. You have to face up to your crimes and you must atone for it, if you want another chance."

Tom looks up at Yusei and mutters his name. Then Mr. Boreal agrees with the high school boy, though for Tom getting another chance part, which made Tom to mutter his name as well. He felt happy to hear that there is people trying to steer him back from the path he started before he met Cygnus.

Director Bowen walks up to Tom, which surprises him. He said, "I'm sorry, Tom. I hope you would forgive me for being the caused of your crime."

Everyone looks at him in a confused manner and wonders what he means by that. Though Tom actually asks, "What do you mean, Chief Director?"

The Chief Director answers, "I'm not actually planning on firing you because of your lack of performance. That was actually a lie to help you to understand that you can't keep pushing people away because of one betrayal."

Tom is shock to hear that. "I'm not being fired!"

Bowen nods his head. "Kevin is the only one who is in on this plan, Aaron isn't. I've been watching you Tom and I see that you have potential. However, your distrust of people has halted your true potential. I want to see your potential again when you get out of jail. There will always be a job open for your return, so I'll be looking forward to that day."

Hearing those words coming from Bowen has made Tom really happy. He's so happy that he is crying tears of joy.

However, Yusei looks at the Chief Director with a sarcastic expression on his face. "Wait… You come up with this lie of firing Tom and you didn't let Mr. Boreal in on this because you know he would defend Tom by taking the credit for his invention so Tom wouldn't get fired just because you want this guy to trust in others. That sounds so stupid! Have you guys ever considered the possibilities from that scenario? It's no wonder why that guy acts like a villain!"

"Uh, Yusei…" Kevin spoke. "How do you know that Aaron would take the credit for Tom's invention?"

Yusei explains how he met Tom to Kevin again and this time with the full details of him seeing Tom's invention. Yusei knows how much Tom is so distrusting of people because he is afraid of it being stolen. So he knows what would happen if the Chief Director would go on with his plan.

The Satella Police took Tom away. Director Bowen talks to Mr. Shepar by saying, "I'm sorry for this terrible experience."

Mr. Shepar chuckles in an awkward manner. "That's okay," he said, "we're safe and that's all that matters!"

Yusei watches the adults talking to each other. He rubs his forehead as he mutters, "Adults, really…"

Sonia pokes his cheek with a smile on her face. "Come on, Yusei! Don't be like that! They're just dealing with adult problems."

"More like problems from elementary school kids," he replies in a sour tone, "I just hate it when adults don't find a reasonable solution to solve their problems."

Sonia quickly changes the subject. "I wonder how everyone got out that room?" she asks Yusei.

Then Luna exclaimed, "It's Mega Man, Sonia!"

The idol girl turned to Luna as she responds, "Mega Man… saves you…"

"He did!" The blonde hair girl squeals. "Mega Man is so cool when he starts calling that man's threat a bluff!"

"Yeah, that is awesome!" Bud agrees. "Though I'm scared when he asks Mr. Boreal to remove his space helmet to gain that man's trust, but he's so confident that makes him so cool!"

Then Zack said, "I hope we get to meet him again so we can thank him for saving us. I wonder what kind of person he is."

Hearing them praising Mega Man has made Sonia to make a sad expression. She too wanted to thank him for saving her before, but she couldn't since she was asleep before. Though it is strange for her to sleep, but she doesn't know why she fallen asleep.

Yusei, on the other hand, felt happy to hear them praising his alter ego and he loudly laugh, which surprises everyone. He smiles and he said, "Thanks guys! You guys really brightened my day." He starts humming some random tune, ignoring the confused expressions on his friends' face.

Luna whispers to Geo, "You're right about Yusei being weird."

Geo chuckles. "Its just Yusei being Yusei."

Sonia starts giggling from seeing the sudden change of Yusei's mood. She is happy to see Yusei happy.

* * *

Meanwhile at the abandoned factory, Taurus is laughing at the injured Cygnus who has miraculously survived from Yusei's assault. "So much for your _absolute plan_ of getting back the Andromeda Key, huh!" Taurus remarks. "Not only that, your human host has quickly got his senses back, faster than my human host!"

"Shut up, you dumb bull!" The swan retorts. "How should I know that Mega Man has an ally and ability to fly? It wasn't in the data before!"

"That's why you shouldn't rely on your data too much," said a female voice, which surprises the two FMians.

Both Cygnus and Taurus turn to the person and they gasped when they saw four colorful EM Wave beings floating in front of them. The first is Ophiuca, a purple FMian who looks like a ghostly woman wearing a purple-red facemask, shoulder pads, and a V-shape waist belt. Next is Libra, a yellow FMian that looks a like a balance scale and his armor and scale pans are brown. Then there's Wolf, a blue FMian that looks like an actual wolf wearing a dark blue mask that shapes his upper wolf head, tunic, and shoulder pads. Lastly there's Lyra, a blue harp with eyes and two glowing pink EM Wave flames on her curled ends.

Ophiuca moves closer to Cygnus, which causes the FMian swan to be a bit nervous that he actually sweats. "Poor Cygnus," said Ophiuca, "you always rely on your gathered data. You should have learned by now that this is how far your data have gotten you."

"S-Shut up!" Cygnus stutters.

Wolf chuckles out of amusement. "To think that you two have lost against one traitor and his human host. It's funny that I can't wait to spread this around back home after _we_ get the Andromeda Key back!"

Taurus glares at Wolf. "I wouldn't be smug if I were you! Lets see you guys handle Mega Man!"

The FMians watch the bull and wolf growling at each other like wild animals. Libra decides to break the tension by asking, "Cygnus, is Gemini with you?"

"Gemini?" Cygnus spoke. "No, he's not with us. Why are you asking?"

Libra explains, "Before King Cepheus sends us to Earth, he asks us if we have seen Gemini. We figure that he must have followed you two. But since he's not with you, then where is he?"

Taurus snorts, "Who cares about him! Gemini is always secretive! I wonder how an FMian like him is the king's right-hand man. But let's focus on how we should get the Andromeda Key back from that traitor!"

"For once I actually agree with this bull," said Ophiuca as she turns to Lyra. "How's about we send you, Lyra? Since you _were_ friends with that traitor, I'm sure that you can get the key back."

"Leave it to me!" Lyra salutes to Ophiuca with a wink.

Then Libra notices Cygnus leaving the area as he asks, "Where are you going?

Cygnus answers, "I'm going to my _personal_ computer to see if the data that I've stolen from AMAKEN is worth the trouble."

Lyra looks at the FMian swan. "You have your own computer?"

"I made two; one for us to communicate with the king and the second is for my own personal use." Cygnus heads to one of the rooms of the office area, leaving the FMians to talk amongst them.

Wolf clicks his tongue out irritation. "That guy just never learns…"

While the rest of the FMians are discussing some things related about Mega Man, Lyra sneaks away from them as she heads to the roof. From there, she sees Echo Ridge City in the horizon as she giggles out of amusement. However, she becomes sad when she remembers her reason why she's here on Earth.

"Omega-Xis…" is her last words to mutter before she heads back inside the abandoned factory.


	13. Nicole

Disclaimer: I don't own any Battle Cards and Star Force characters. I do own a few original characters.

Chapter 13: Nicole

At an unknown location, Yusei is at some laboratory filled machines and tools lying around the area. He felt familiarity in this lab, but he wonders why he's here. Then he heard the sound of a bottle shattering when it is drop. He also heard footsteps stepping on the shattered glass. The teenage boy is afraid of who else is with him as he turns around.

This other person is actually a robot. Its color scheme is yellow and white with the yellow being the hardened plating and the white just its body. At the chest is a green glowing orb and on its face a really small green glowing orb.

The robot slowly raises its arms as it walks slowly towards Yusei. A female voice coming from the robot statically said, "Yusei… Yusei… Please… Help me…"

"N-Nicole!" he stutters in fear. "You have to regain control! Please!"

The robot called Nicole has gotten near Yusei as her robotic hands are on his neck. "I can't… stop this… body… You… have… to…"

Her hands started to squeeze on his neck, choking him. They both fall onto the ground with Nicole on top of his body while strangling him. Yusei is slowly losing breath as he begs Nicole in his mind to regain control of her robotic body. He frantically moves his right hand around until he grabs an electric cable that is cut open to have sparks coming out of it. He uses that cable and thrust the open end of it at the glowing chest piece, which causes Nicole to scream in pain due to the electrical current surging in her body. Her screaming has made her to let go of Yusei and he looks at Nicole helplessly as he watches the electricity hurting her.

When her screaming stops along with the electricity, her robotic body falls onto the ground causing a large thud sound. Yusei frantically runs up to her and opens her back compartment as he pulls out a small, white handheld computer that is connected via cable to the body.

He removes the cable and spoke in a scared tone, "Nicole! Nicole! Please speak to me!"

A static sound can be heard through the small computer. Then Nicole's voice can be heard through the static calling Yusei's name before it goes silent. Yusei tries to call Nicole's name again, but the small computer has no response.

Hearing no response from Nicole has made Yusei to cry in tears. "Nicole… I'm so sorry… I'm so sorry… Please answer me…" His sobbing voice echoes in the laboratory.

* * *

Yusei awaken from his bed with tears streaming down his face. He figures that he must have been dreaming of that incident as he raises his upper body and sees the brightness of the crescent moon shining through the window.

"Mega… Are you awake?" Yusei asks when he turns to his Transer that is sitting on a drawer next to his bed. He heard no response as he sighs and gets off his bed.

He opens a shelf from his drawer and pulls out small, handheld computer that looks similar as the one in his dream. He took the computer with him as he leaves his room and heads to the kitchen downstairs. In the kitchen, he made himself a cup hot chocolate and heads back upstairs to the room next to his bedroom.

The room he enters is what he considers his workshop for making inventions that are small and medium by size. The walls are reinforced just in case of explosions that may occur during his time inventing some stuff. On his workshop table are machine parts that Yusei took with him from Harmony Town and his toolbox.

Next to those parts is another handheld computer, but it's unfinished. The handheld's frame is put together, wires and parts are out, and the computer screen is not even attach.

Yusei sets down both his cup and white handheld on the table and grabs a chair. He pulls out his tools and starts working on the unfinished handheld. A few sparks has been made from the handheld as he installs the typing keyboard to check certain installed parts are working. He types in a few things and the next thing happens are wild sparks, though small, shout of the unfinished handheld.

When the sparks die down, he sneers at the handheld. "God damn it, Yusei… That's the third time this week! I need to replace some parts…" He sadly looks at the white handheld and melancholy said, "Don't worry, Nicole. It's not your fault for that nightmare, I'm still feeling stuck with my promise to you. As your friend, I will keep my promise no matter what." There's no response coming from that small device. "Though I wish I can hear your voice again."

His reason for the Matter Wave Project wasn't for creating a personal assistant, but to revive his friend, Nicole. Yusei first got Nicole as a gift from his father that was supposed to be his birthday present on his seventh birthday. After his parents' death and his transfer to Harmony Town, Yusei activates Nicole and he treats her like his friend. The two are perfect partners who sometimes argue with each other, Nicole acts to be more rational, while Yusei is more finding the impractical solution or the third option. It was because of them being opposite to each other was their growth as Nicole finds reason in the impractical solution and Yusei thinks more on his action before jumping the gun.

Their bond is strong enough for Nicole to ask Yusei to make her a body. Her reason for the request is that she wants to move freely and to see the world around her instead. Yusei complied with her request when he discovered an old Copy-Bot that he once found in an abandoned factory outside of Harmony Town and uses that bot to give Nicole a body. However, Yusei didn't realized that the bot had a virus that was hibernating inside its programming as it took over the Copy-Bot with Nicole in it. That event transpires into that dream that Yusei had before, causing him to feel guilty for her "death."

"So that's Nicole," Omega-Xis spoke, which surprises Yusei.

He looks around the area, until something drops on his head. The drop item is his Visualizer and he puts it on to see Omega-Xis floating in front of him. "Mega!" Yusei gasps, "I thought you were asleep! How long were you watching me?"

"Ever since when you ask me if I'm awake or not," he answers as he curiously looks at the white handheld. "So Nicole is this device… I thought you actually killed a person, but she's actually a machine. Can you tell me what happen?"

Yusei sighs and he replies, "If I tell you, then you must tell me why you stole the Andromeda Key. It's a good exchange if you ask me." He smirks as if he's having fun making a deal with Omega-Xis since he knows that the alien won't tell him his reason.

Omega-Xis clicks his tongue. "Fine then. But I want to ask, why are you clinging to this Nicole? I thought you're a person who wants to move forward just like how you labeled your parents dead."

That sort of caught Yusei off-guard as he looks at his shaking hands. He then solemnly said, "Her death is different from my parents' death. I killed her. Even though she's not human, I killed someone who is precious to me just like my sister and my friends."

Omega-Xis gasps when he notices that tears are streaming out of Yusei's eyes, despite his solemn face. The alien feels bad for making the young teenager to cry. "I'm sorry what I just said. I live with you for so long, I would have guessed the reason why you treat this Nicole differently than your parents."

Yusei wipes off his tears as he replies, "That's okay, Mega. It's just that it is my first time killing a friend who is close to me. Do you also feel sad when you first kill a friend?"

"Sadly, no. I live in a planet where I have to fend for my life and keep raising my rank to save myself. I do kill some of my allies, but I only did it to fulfill my goals." Omega-Xis decides to stop his talking from there, as he just remains silent for a moment.

Yusei sighs. "I know I shouldn't ask you that question. But it's reassuring that we may get to know each other." After seeing Yusei smiling at him, the alien heads back to the Transer to get some sleep, leaving Yusei to continue working onto the Matter Wave Project.

* * *

A knock can be heard from the door of Yusei's workshop. "Yusei!" Ayane's voice calls out to him. "Are you sleeping in your workshop? It's morning now! Wake up!"

Yusei had been sleeping in his workshop and hearing his sister's voce have woke him up. He looks at the unfinished handheld and spoke, "I need to find more parts."

He went back to his bedroom and change into his usual clothing. He also put on his Transer and heads downstairs to eat some breakfast, which is made by Ayane.

"Morning, Yusei!" Ayane cheerfully greets her brother. After she serves him his breakfast, she continues to say, "I know today is your weekend, but you shouldn't choose to stay up all night in your workshop. It's just not healthy and it worries me."

"I know that," Yusei replies, "I thought I should use that time to work on the Matter Wave Project."

"So you can create your assistant?" She takes a sip of her water after she finishes chewing her food. "Well, I guess it's okay. At least you're moving on with your life since Nicole's 'non-active state' last year. Nicole will be happy that you're replacing her."

Yusei makes a depressing face as he sadly looks down at his food. He doesn't want to show the face he's making.

"Yusei, are you listening?"

"Huh?" Yusei gasps. "What is it?"

"I'm heading to work now. Have you made my lunch?"

Yusei nods his head. "It's in the fridge. Be sure to warm it before eating."

After his sister takes her lunch out of the fridge, she heads to her car and she leaves for work. Yusei is washing the dishes, but then stops when Omega-Xis starts talking to him.

Omega-Xis asks, "Does your sister know what you're really using the Matter Wave Project for?"

"Sadly, no she doesn't. And it's better that way."

As soon as he finishes washing the dishes, he heads upstairs and grabs his backpack. He then quickly opens the front door, only to notice that the door hit someone.

"Ow! My foot!" Tama's voice exclaimed. Yusei opens the door to see Tama who is hopping on one foot. "What's the big idea, Yusei?" she angrily yells at him.

"Sorry about that! By the way, why are you standing in front of my door?"

Tama stands but her left foot is stinging with pain. "I came here to return your wrench that I borrow from you yesterday. At least let me know when you're going to open that damn door!"

"How would I know that you're standing there?" Yusei retorts.

Then she notices the backpack as she asks, "Are you going somewhere?"

Yusei explains to her that he's going to Dream Island's Junkyard to gather some parts for the Matter Wave Project. He got this information from Sonia before the Cygnus Wing incident.

"So you're starting to work on that project?"

"I have you know that I've started to work on it last week. I need some parts to replace the damaged ones." Yusei grabs the wrench out of Tama's hand and place it on the table in the living room of his home. "Thank you for giving back my wrench and if you're done here, I'll be going now."

Tama stops Yusei from leaving as she said, "I'll help you with carrying those parts."

"Huh? Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure. I still remember that one time when you have trouble opening your front door while you were carrying five grocery bags."

Yusei felt happy to hear that Tama offers her service to help him. He hands her his second backpack and they took a bus to Dream Island.

* * *

The two teenagers have arrived at Dream Island. It's definitely an amusement park with a lot of green on the grasses and trees. The amusement park has all kinds of rides; Ferris wheel, roller coaster, merry-go-round, etc. Yusei's child side wants to have some fun since he saw the people are enjoying the amusement park, but he doesn't want to lose focus on the objective.

Yusei asks, "Tama, how long was this amusement park was here? I know this place wasn't here seven years ago."

"I think about three years ago," she answers, "I also think Sonia did her debut here during its grand opening."

"Then do you know where the junkyard is, right?"

She points at the west side of the amusement park. At that side, Yusei can see the junkyard with a few hills of garbage. The junkyard has a gate and fence that acts as boundaries so that no one from the amusement park accidentally wanders in.

They enter the junkyard and it seems like no one is going to stop them. Yusei thinks that they're understaff or taking a time off. They look around the junkyard to find and Yusei found some useful parts that would definitely replace the damaged ones. Tama also found some interesting parts amongst the garbage and it looks like she's excited into finding them, which is weird for her since the reason she came is to help him with the carrying the parts.

"Awesome!" Yusei shouts, which surprises Tama who is nearby.

"What is it, Yusei?"

"Tama! I found a stash of Link PET Exceeds, Progress PETs, and Advanced PETs!" Yusei points at the collection of handheld devices on top of a pile of garbage.

Tama tilts her head as she asks, "What are PETs?"

"PET is short for Personal Terminal. They're handheld devices from 200 years ago and you can think of them to be the same as our Transers of today. It's amazing that we found such a rare stash! These can be very useful for my Matter Wave Handheld!" Yusei happily stuff some of the PETs into his backpack.

Seeing Yusei acting so happily has made Tama happy as well. She turns away and continues to find some parts nearby. When she notices that Yusei is already done putting the PETs in his bag, she started a conversation by asking him a question.

Tama asks, "Do you really think that your Matter Wave assistant can replace your friend, Nicole?"

Yusei drops a junk machine part when he heard that question. "How do you know about Nicole? I never told you about her."

"Your sister told me about her the other day when I was shopping for some new clothes. She told me that Nicole is an artificial intelligence program and she is one of your closest friends. She also told me about that incident and how that day affected you. Though I am a bit surprise that you have friends that aren't human." She places her hand on Yusei's shoulder and gives him a face of pity. "I'm sorry for bringing up bad memories, but I really want to give you my opinion about that incident. I want to say that it's not your fault and I may not who Nicole is, but I believe that she would be happy that you're making a new assistant to replace her."

Yusei, at first, felt a bit irritated that Tama is giving him her pity. He doesn't like people pitying him. However, he felt comfort from her words despite that he doesn't believe that comfort words would work on anyone. He really wants to tell Tama to stop pitying him, but deep down, he really needs her help.

He spoke, "Tama, I'll ask you one more time. Can you please help me with my project?"

"I keep telling you the same answer. No, I don't want to."

"But there's actually a reason why I want to create a Matter Wave assistant." This got Tama to listen what he has to say. "I'm actually reviving Nicole, not replacing her."

"Huh?" Tama gasps in shock. "But I thought—!"

"She's not dead," Yusei spoke in a firm tone.

He explains to her about why he believes that Nicole is still active despite not being really active. After the incident last year, he checks on Nicole to discover that her hard drive and CPU are still intact. Despite that and batteries being replace, Nicole couldn't respond to him. He doesn't know why Nicole isn't responding to him, but he doesn't want to give up on her. So he believes by giving her an updated handheld system would bring her back.

"But Yusei… If she were not responding, then she would most likely be dead. Also, isn't it better to replace her?"

"No, it's not! How can you say that I should replace a friend like some toy or game? She's not a thing! She's my friend and I'm the one who is responsible for her death!"

"Yusei…" Tama mutters as she sees tears coming out of Yusei's eyes. This is the first time that she actually saw Yusei showing tears as she always saw him to be happy and easy-going.

Yusei clenches his hands as he cast his eyes down at the ground. "Please Tama… I can't make this project work on my own. No matter how good I am with machines, I know that I need some help once in a while."

Tama sighs and then she smiles. "Fine, I'll help you."

"Really?" Yusei exclaims in a happy tone. When Tama nods her head, Yusei immediately hugs her, which surprises the girl. "Thank you! Thank you!"

Tama starts flailing her arms to break free from his hold. "Let go of me! I don't want your tears on me!"

Yusei lets her go and wipes his tears away with his sleeves. "I'm sorry, I'm just happy so hear you say that."

"However, if you're reviving plan doesn't work, then you should give up on her and just move on creating a new assistant to replace her. That is our deal, got it?"

Yusei doesn't like that deal, but he really appreciates Tama's kindness. He shakes her hand and said, "Deal! Thank you, Tama!" After they put some junkyard parts in their bags, they quickly head back to the bus station to get back home.

* * *

"I still can't believe that you invented this deodorant device to eliminate our junkyard odor," said Tama as she looks at a silver, metallic disk while she walks beside Yusei to home.

Yusei scratches his head with a slight chuckle. "Yeah, well… ever since my first dumpster diving back in Harmony Town, Ayane got mad at me for smelling so bad. So I thought I invent the Deodorant Disk to get rid of the smell to please her."

"You can invent something like this, but you have problems with the Matter Wave Project?"

"Using deodorant for an invention is easy, trying to create EM Waves to be real is not."

When they reach their houses, Tama went to her home to take a bath to get rid of the junkyard germs on her body. The same goes for Yusei as he decides to wash the junkyard parts to rid of its germs. As soon as they're done washing themselves, Tama went to Yusei's home. Yusei take her to his workshop room and she is surprise to see the progress that he's making on his project. Then she notices the handheld that is housing Nicole's data and picks it up. She looks at it with a sad look on her face as she wonders how are they going to revive a program that is most likely dead.

Yusei took out the clean junkyard parts and the two teenagers started working. Thanks to Tama's help, the progress of the project has gotten a bit faster. Whenever Yusei hits a snag, she gives suggestions and alternatives to him that he never thought about. Then Yusei connects his Transer to the new handheld via wires. The reason is because he remembers that he still have some EM Wave data he got from his Mega Man job and he plans to use them to become the Matter Waves. By the way, Omega-Xis is not in Yusei's Transer because of this method as the teenage boy asks the alien to hide in his computer. After he transfers the EM Wave data inside the new handheld, the two teenagers felt like they complete it. The handheld has purple-silver frame and it looks like a Link PET Exceed with a dial that has two letters, Y and L.

To find out if the Matter Waves works, they did some testing. They start with something small like a baseball to something medium like a chair to something large as a fridge. They're extremely happy to see that the Matter Waves work as Yusei tries to amped up the ante by using the Matter Waves to create a human body. Though the Matter Wave human looks blank and ghostly, it still works as it made them happy.

"This is great, Yusei!" Tama exclaims as she turns off the Matter Waves. "We have successfully finish this project for just a few hours!"

If it weren't for the junkyard parts, PETs, and Tama's help, this project would probably took Yusei about months to finish. He's glad that Tama helps him and he wish if there's some way he can repay her. But he stops thinking about the repayment and he starts transferring Nicole's handheld's components to the new handheld.

After reworking the purple handheld with the components, Yusei becomes excited to see if Nicole would be reactivate. He mentally crosses his fingers in hoping this new handheld would bring her back. When he turns on the handheld, there's no response. Well to be exact, it's more like the screen is on, but there's no sound. He has no idea why she's not saying anything and tries to think up possibilities on this phenomenon.

However, Tama sadly looks at Yusei and places her hand on his shoulder. She gently said, "I'm sorry, Yusei. But you have to face the facts that Nicole is gone. We can continue working on this many times as we want, but the results will just be the same. It's better you give up on her. After all, you're the person who already accepted your parents to be dead."

"Yeah," he solemnly spoke, "I guess you're right."

He couldn't disagree with her. Nicole's death happened last year and the time between then and now, it becomes too obvious for him. Nicole will never come back no matter how much he tries. He just couldn't accept her death since he's the one who killed her and he doesn't like killing anyone, even his closest friends.

Tama takes the sad Yusei downstairs. When they're gone, Omega-Xis appears in the room and he looks at the purple handheld. He clicks his tongue as he pulses in to it.

* * *

The Wave World inside the handheld is in a purple background with black blocks that act like platforms and mountain-like scenery. At a very large black platform that is in the middle of a giant chasm there's a black birdcage. Inside that birdcage is a purple, human-like ghost in a fetal position sitting.

Omega-Xis appears in front of the cage and he looks at the purple ghost. He asks in a rough tone, "Are you Nicole?"

The purple ghost looks up at the EM Wave alien. "And you are?"

"I'm Omega-Xis," the alien introduces himself, "I'm friends with Yusei."

"So you're friends with Yusei, huh. My name is Nicole and I'm guessing that you're my replacement."

The alien tilted his head. "I'm not your replacement. I came here to talk to you."

"Talk to me?" Nicole starts chuckling. "What is it that you want to talk to me about, junior?"

Omega-Xis felt irritated when Nicole starts calling him her junior. However, he calms down and just talks to her how he talks Yusei normally. "Why are you inside this cage?"

"I'm in here just to protect Yusei."

"Protect him? Why? What happen?"

Nicole chuckles again. "I thought Yusei told you about that incident, junior."

"Stop calling me that!" Omega-Xis roars at her as he slams his claws at the bars of the cage. "I have you know I killed a dozen of enemies before coming to this planet!"

Hearing that from Omega-Xis has caught her interest. "So you're an alien… Now that's interesting. But I'm still calling you junior!"

Omega-Xis both glares and growls at her. "Do you want me to delete you?"

"I don't mind," she solemnly said. "Go ahead and delete me. Set me free from my sins."

Seeing her acting like this has made Omega-Xis to regain his composure as he took the reasoning route. "Can you tell me what happen last year?"

"Last year?" Nicole gasps. "It's been a year already? Boy, how time flies when you're stuck in this cage."

Nicole explains to him about what happen last year from her perspective. She even recalls how she was strangling Yusei and saw the fear in his eyes. Looking at his eyes has affected her and she isolated herself into her system and shuts off her communications because she doesn't want to hurt Yusei anymore. Hearing her sad story has made Omega-Xis to feel sympathetic and he now knows why Yusei doesn't want to talk about it.

"I scared him," said Nicole in a trembling voice. "I almost killed him. If I have never requested him to give me a body, then that would never happen. I bet he hates me."

"No, he doesn't!" Omega-Xis retorts as he slams his claws on the bars. "I don't know how long you're friends with that idiot, but I have been with him for over a month, I know him that he's not the type of person to hate others. If you're truly his friend, you should know that as well."

Nicole shook her ghostly head. "You're right, but… I failed him! There's no way I can face him after doing something like that to him! I sealed myself in this cage to protect him! I cut off communications so I won't hear his resentment!"

Omega-Xis slams his claws against the bars again. "You're an idiot! Do you know what you're doing right now has make that idiot to go through some lengths to get you back! He still wants to keep his promise to you by using the Matter Waves!"

The purple ghost lifts her head and looks at Omega-Xis. "Is that true, junior?"

"Of course!" Omega-Xis roars like a wild animal. "That brat did say that he wants to hear your voice one more time! He even cries when he admits that he's the killer of your supposed death to his friend! Just hurry up and go see him already!" From that last yell, Omega-Xis forcibly rips the bars he's holding off the cage, surprising Nicole. "Just go and see him, you dumb program!"

* * *

"Yusei, I'm home!" Ayane calls her brother's name as she got back from work. When she enters the living room, she gasps in surprise to see Tama sitting on the couch watching TV with Yusei. "Tama, what are you doing here?"

Yusei explains, "She's helping me with my project. We're making some progress and right now, we're taking a break."

Tama is surprised to see how good Yusei is at lying to his sister without showing any signs of the sadness from earlier. She thinks that the reason why he is lying to her is because she doesn't want to worry, which is not surprising since she knows Yusei pretty well. She didn't want to say anything as she focuses her eye onto the TV.

"So when are you making dinner?" Ayane asks as she puts her purse down on the table and sits on the chair next to the couch.

"I'm just waiting for the water to boiled for the spaghetti," Yusei answered.

"Spaghetti sounds good," says a familiar, yet not familiar with the current people in the room, voice says.

Yusei turns to Tama and asks, "Did you say that?"

"Me?" She shook her head. "No way, I thought it was your sister!"

Everyone turns to the stairs and both of their eyes and mouths are open very wide as if they're shock to see another teenage girl. The girl's skin is light brown and her shoulder-length hair is black. The clothes fit well with her attractive body; she wears a violet shoulder-less, sleeveless dress with split tails, decorated with a red gem-like broach. The split-tailed dress shows that she's wearing white pants. She also wears purple fingerless gloves that reach halfway to her elbow, purple shoes, and a black belt that has a familiar handheld hanging on her right side.

Both Ayane and Tama are flustered to see another girl in the room while Yusei just stares at her. Ayane asks, "Yusei, who is this girl? Tama, do you know her as well?"

"That girl wasn't here when we're in the house!" Tama answers in a tense tone.

The unknown girl ignores the two girls talking to each other as she walks up to Yusei. She looks at him at eye level and places her hand over his cheeks. She gasps, "I can touch you." Tears are streaming down her face, but she's not crying in sadness. "I'm so happy. I can't believe that I can feel your warmth like this. Thank you, Yusei."

Yusei gasps in surprise as soon as he recognizes the girl's voice. "Nicole, is that you?" Yusei's voice trembles when he asks the unknown girl. The girl nods her head as her answer and he quickly hugs her with a happy smile on his face. "It really is you! It works! Tama, it really works! Nicole is back!"

Ayane points at Nicole, though her body is shaking because she's shock from Yusei's words. "Is that really you, Nicole?"

Nicole nods her head again with a warm smile on her face. "I'm Nicole and I'm definitely back."

Ayane quickly hugs her and Yusei together with tears coming out her eyes. "No way…! I… We thought you were dead…"

Nicole has managed to force the two siblings' grip to let go as she explains everything what happen to her. Everyone couldn't believe her story since the actions she has made are out of her character. Ayane and Yusei know that Nicole isn't the type of person, or program, to worried over the details of her actions last year.

"Are you stupid, Nicole?" Yusei yells at her. "If you're that worried, then you should have come talk to me and we can work things out!"

Tama jumps in the conversation by asking, "How come you're out of your containment now?" That's the question that everyone wants to talk about.

"You can say that I heard Yusei's voice," she said, but it's actually a lie. There's no way she can say that an alien comes in and knock some sense into her. "Thank you, Yusei for keeping your promise. I love this body!"

Yusei is happy to hear that, but he feels skeptical. He's pretty sure that he doesn't design Nicole's appearance. He finds it weird that she has this sort of appearance instead of a ghostly appearance. Though he decided to keep this information to himself, as he doesn't want to ruin the mood.

"By the way," Nicole spoke as she turns to Yusei, "isn't the water over boiling right about now?"

A moment of silence fills the room. After a few clicks in Yusei's mind, he gasps and he quickly runs into the kitchen. Nicole giggles as if seeing Yusei's reaction amuses her.

In kitchen when Yusei lowers the temperature of the stove to let the boiled water in a big pot to settle down. He quickly puts the noodles so it can be soften. He pulls out a second pot and starts making the spaghetti sauce.

"Mega, are you in my Transer?" Yusei asks during the time he's making dinner.

Omega-Xis answers, "Yeah. Why? Do you want to ask me about thing?"

"No, not really. But I want to say this… Thanks for bringing Nicole back."

"What are you talking about?" The alien plays dumb.

Yusei chuckles. "I didn't know that Nicole isolates herself in her own system and the only one who can enters the computer space is you. But I have a question, why did you do it? You're helping me to fend off the FMians from destroying this planet."

"I guess I'm just tick off of seeing you to look all sad and such. It's pretty annoying."

Yusei chuckles again. He wants to hold back his laughter of Omega-Xis's amusing words. Though he appreciates Omega-Xis's "kindness" of bringing back Nicole out of her isolation.

* * *

At an apartment room somewhere in downtown Echo Ridge, Sonia has return from her long day of her idol work. She feels extremely fatigue. Her face is flush in red as she checks her temperature by placing her hand over her forehead to feel her temperature. She can feel the heat coming from her forehead as she realizes that her health worsens a bit.

She looks at a picture frame with a photo of her young self together with her mom. Her mother has a complexion of a thirty-year-old woman, fair light skin, and long, flowing purple hair. Sonia's mother wears a white dress.

"Don't worry, mom." Sonia smiles at the picture. "I'm going to be fine for tomorrow. Also mom, I'm sorry for not talking to you for so long, I've been swamp with a bunch of things thanks to my awful producer. But I have about two or three questions to ask you and they're sort of related to this boy that I've told you about. Do you think I'm causing Yusei a bit of trouble? Also, what does he think of me? And, um… what else should I ask you?"

Sonia becomes extremely flustered when she asking the image of her dead mother. She doesn't know what else to ask her mother for relating about Yusei. Even though she's talking to a picture, deep down in her heart, she still misses talking to her mother like she used to do.

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot!" she gasps in surprise. "Yesterday at the radio show, I get to see Mega Man again after for so long. He saves my life from a small explosion in the radio booth. He's amazing and nice! Though for some reason, he reminds me of someone I know and I don't know who." She quickly change the topic by saying, "I still miss you, mom. I'm still singing for you and my fans, but for some reason, I feel like something is missing when I sing. The fans didn't know that, but I know. It's just that I don't find singing to be enjoyable anymore, but I have to deal with it since these songs are meant for you. Am I losing the passion of singing?"

After talking to a picture of her dead mother, she quickly changes out of her clothes and into her yellow pajamas. She turns off the lights and put her Transer next to her pink bed. She starts humming some random tune.

"Your mom is pretty," said an unknown female voice.

"Thanks!" Sonia replies, but then she gasps as she realizes she doesn't know who says that. She looks around for a moment, but there's no one in her room. She shrugs it off and said, "Guess that's my imagination." She lays on her bed and drifts off to sleep.


	14. A Grave Visit

Disclaimer: I don't own any Battle Cards and Star Force characters. I do own a few original characters.

Chapter 14: A Grave Visit

"Mega Man, who are you?" Detective Copper grumbles to himself. He's at his office in Echo Ridge's Satella Police Headquarters looking through some files relating to the Blue Bomber.

The reason why he's looking through the files relating to Mega Man is because he's curious of what kind of person he is. Judging from the files of people that the police interrogated, they all claimed that Mega Man is a good guy since he saves them. However, unknown to the general public, there have been cases of the police finding unconscious people and they all said that they don't remember what happen prior of being found: to them, their memories have been wipe clean by a blue blur. Copper couldn't help but think that Mega Man is involved with those unconscious, however, with the lack of evidence to support that claimed, the higher-ups of the police force decided to keep that a secret.

He also remembers about the Cygnus Incident, where he met another person like Mega Man harming others and the Blue Bomber saves them. He did interrogated Tom Dubius about how he obtained that power, but all he said that he got that power from an alien ghost. Copper has a hard time to believe that story, but now he's not so sure. This got him pondering if Mega Man has his powers from that same alien ghost. He just can't rule out the possibilities.

Alan enters the office since he's working under Copper and his desk is next to Copper's desk. He notices Copper looking through the files as he comments, "I see that you're working hard. What is it, Conan? Have a case that makes you stumped?"

"Morning to you too, Alan," Copper responds in a stoic manner.

"Sheesh… can't take a joke. So which case files that you're looking into?"

"The files that I'm looking into relate to Mega Man. I'm still a little skeptical about this guy."

Alan chuckles trying to make Copper to loosen up since his face is a little bit scary. "Guess that couldn't be helped though," he said, "since the AMAKEN Incident, the force is shock to hear that a human can become an EM Wave being because of an alien. It's hard to believe such story, but then again, there's Mega Man as our example of that story could be true."

Copper closes the files as he rubs between his eyes due to stress of reading them. "I should take a break from looking these files, right now I should focus on the most important things. Alan, I heard from the higher-ups that the reason why you're transfer here was because of a failed case back in Harmony Town. Is that true?"

Alan sighs as he replies, "Yeah, that's true. It's because I lost a perp during a chase, but that's life for you." The two continue talking to each other until they heard a distress call that gets them back to work.

* * *

"Hello, this is the Echo Ridge High School's office. How can I help you?" a man's voice asks

"Hi! My name is Ayane Light, Yusei's sister. I'm calling the office to tell you that my little brother, Yusei, is feeling under the weather and he won't be coming to school today. Can you please tell his teachers that he would be absent?"

"Sure, Ms. Light, but can I ask the reason why he's sick?"

"Just the stomach flu, that's all. I'm going to take him to the clinic right now."

"Okay then, I'll be sure to let his teachers know. Bye, Ms. Light and have a good day." A click and the dial tone of a phone can be heard through the ears of the girl who calls the school's office.

The girl sighs as if she felt relief that the one who answered the phone didn't realize something's off. "I can't believe they bought that," said the owner of that voice.

"Good job, Nicole! The voice synthesizing program works!" Yusei congrats the girl named Nicole.

Yusei and Nicole are sitting at a bus stop near Yusei's home. They're waiting for a bus to come, but in the meantime, Yusei asks Nicole to call the school in Ayane's voice, telling them that he won't be coming to school today. But for what reason to make up that excuse to skip school?

"But are you sure you want to go to their graves?" Nicole asks in concern of Yusei's wellbeing.

"I haven't been to their graves for over seven years! If I don't go to my parents' grave soon, I would probably regret it. Besides, I think I'm ready to see their graves."

Nicole sighs in disbelief, but she is glad to hear Yusei's honest feelings. "Hey, Junior… What do you think about Yusei visiting his parents' graves?"

"Stop calling me, Junior!" Omega-Xis yell in Yusei's Transer. "Anyway, I don't understand why humans talk to a bunch of small monuments so they can talk to their dead loved ones."

Nicole chuckles as she replies, "It's some part of human belief that by talking to these monuments, their loved ones can hear their voices and calmed their spirits. There are a few reasons why the living wants to talk to the dead, but I'm not an expert on these sorts of things, even though I am a program that has full access to the Internet without the use of a Transer."

Then Omega-Xis spoke, "If that were the case, then why haven't you visited their graves before?"

"I'm not sure," he answers, "I know sis can't visit their graves because she wants to get her degree quickly. But for me, I just refused to go and I don't know why. Maybe I'm subconsciously afraid to go see their graves as they're reminders of their deaths." Yusei ponders in thought, a bus stop in front of him. Nicole snaps him out of his thoughts as she drags him inside the vehicle.

* * *

Echo Ridge's graveyard has a great view of the city, despite that a large number of gravestones stretch out the large land. Yusei and Nicole walk pass some number of gravestones until they reach the ones that has Yusei's parents' names on them. The teenage boy and the Matter Wave girl sadly look at the gravestones. There's this awkward silence as Yusei is hesitating to say anything.

"Um… Hey there, mom and dad," he said with his face flush in embarrassment. "This is awkward… I know that Ayane and I haven't visit your graves for such a long time, but our excuses was that we were living with our uncle during this long period. In case you're wondering why I'm here alone is because big sis is busy with work. So to replace her, I have Nicole here. Say 'hi,' Nicole."

Nicole politely bows to the two gravestones as she said, "Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Light. Don't worry about your son and daughter, I'll be sure to keep an eye on them."

"I'm sure you're wondering who is this girl and why is her name Nicole. Well, that's because this is the same Nicole you gave me, dad. She's that handheld device that you left for my seventh birthday, which I'm very thankful for. I've updated her with the Matter Waves to give her a body! Now she can interacts the real world! Thanks to her, I have accomplished something that you haven't!"

Yusei points at the graveyards with a prideful smile on his face. Then his face turns red as he lower his pointing finger. His prideful smile starts to disappear.

He embarrassedly scratches his head and exclaims, "Why am I boasting to a bunch of gravestones? This is starting to feel awkward!"

Seeing the way in which Yusei is acting, Nicole giggles out of amusement. "You need to calm down, Yusei. You're embarrassing yourself in front of your parents' graves. If you're parents are alive and see you right now, they would say that you should be proud of what you did."

"Yeah," Yusei smiles in response, "you're right. Mom and dad would definitely say that if they were here."

Then Nicole chimes, "Should you tell them about your exploits as Mega Man?"

Nicole was informed about Yusei's hero persona and his activities that he had been doing. She was angry and worried about Yusei's wellbeing, thus leads to her scolding Omega-Xis for dragging him in the fight against the FMians that he made by stealing the Andromeda Key. Yusei did calm her down and she now helps him and Omega-Xis against the FMians.

Yusei starts telling the gravestones about the things that have been going on since his arrival to Echo Ridge City. He told them about his fight against the FMians and how much he got hurt from them. He reassures the gravestones that he does get better because of his friend's medicine. During this conversation, both Yusei and Nicole didn't notice that someone is watching them in a hidden area behind them. That said person is that mysterious woman who helps Yusei back at AMAKEN and she just watches them.

"Yusei, it's almost the time to go," Nicole spoke and that get his attention.

The teenage boy understands it as he politely bows to the gravestones. "I have to go, mom and dad. Even though I'm skipping school today, I have some things to do and that is grocery shopping. There's a limited time sale going on today so I have to go. I promise that I'll come and visit. Bye!" He waves at the gravestones as he and Nicole leave the area.

As they walk out of the graveyard, they stop when they heard the sound sirens echoing off in the distant. They wonder what's going on as Yusei decided that they should check it. Nicole disappears in the handheld, which Yusei calls it the Mini Terminal, that is hanging on her belt and Yusei caught it and strap the Mini Terminal on his belt. Yusei EM Wave Changes into Mega Man and uses the Wave Road to go to where the sound is coming from.

* * *

Meanwhile at cafeteria in Echo Ridge High School, Tama is eating her lunch alone. That is until Luna, Bud, Zack, Geo, and Sonia show up and sit next to her. She is surprise to see them here, though there's something odd among Luna's group. She realizes that Yusei isn't with them. This is odd to her since she last saw Yusei out of his house this morning, so where is he?

Tama spoke, "This is rare. Where's Yusei?"

Geo answers, "That idiot got sick! I can't believe him! He may sometimes act irresponsible, but I know he's not that irresponsible!"

That puzzles Tama because she did saw Yusei this morning and he looks fine from her perspective. She quickly figures that Yusei is skipping school for some reason. She wants to say this to Luna and her friends, but figures they would eventually find out when they decided to go visit his house to check on him. And the strange thing is, they actually did decide to go visit him after school.

Luna stated that by saying, "We should go to Yusei's house and see how is he doing. I believe he'll be happy to see us. Am I right, Geo?"

"I think so too, but I believe not everyone here can visit him." When Geo says that, everyone turns to Sonia. They know that her famous idol work would not give her the time to visit their friend.

Sonia notices the stares as she smiles at them. "I'll come. Today's work has been cancelled due to system failures, so I'm free to visit him."

Geo snaps his fingers with a happy smile on his face. "Awesome! That will surprise even more! He will never expect Sonia to come visit!"

Tama watches the conversation as they talk to each other of what they should get for Yusei. She mentally prays for Yusei's safety from his friends' wrath when they find out the truth.

* * *

At a construction site somewhere in uptown Echo Ridge, the machines are going haywire. The Satella Police Officers have gotten the construction workers out of the site as they fight against the reason why the machines went haywire, which is the EM Wave Viruses. Alan and Copper are in the scene as they help out. One of the officers informs them that a large number of viruses are attacking the construction beams while a few small numbers of viruses are controlling the machines.

Copper orders five officers to transmit the Anti-Virus Program in the machine to delete those viruses, while everyone takes care of the viruses attacking the construction beams. Everyone agrees as they get to work.

Then a woman screams, "Michael! Michael! Where are you? Has anyone see my son?"

Hearing that scream has made Copper to be a bit worried. While Alan is shooting at the viruses that his sensors detect on the construction beams, he notices a little boy calling out for his mother. Alan informs Copper about the child and the Detective gives him the orders to get the boy out of the construction site. When he does, the ropes that are holding other construction beams have been cut. The ropes drop the beams over the boy's head, but something is appearing right next to the boy in high speed. That thing is fast enough to grab the boy out of that danger and everyone who saw that only think they saw a blue light grabbing the boy. But that blue light turns out to be Yusei in his Mega Man form flying in the air.

Yusei flies towards the woman who was screaming for her son's name as he asks, "Is this your son, miss?"

"Yes! That is my son! Thank you, Mega Man!"

Yusei hands her the boy as he said, "You're welcome. I'm going to take care of the viruses. Bye!" Yusei flies to the construction site as Omega-Xis change their Wave Frequency to get into the Wave World.

Inside the Wave World, Yusei sees two Giant Axe viruses and ten Knight viruses attacking the beams of the construction site to make it fall down. The Knight viruses stop what they're doing and try to attack him; however, Yusei smirks.

"Nicole! Now!"

Yusei stops his flight as he hovers in the air and Nicole appears in front of him with her right arm raised. A purple pulse wave comes out of her hand as the Knight viruses got caught into the wave's range. The wave hits the Knights and they stop moving with their red eyes turned into purple eyes.

Nicole smiles as she said, "Okay, boys…! Turn around and attack those big axe guys for me!"

The Knights nod their heads as they turn around and attack the Giant Axe viruses. The Giant Axe viruses are bewildered by their allies' sudden attack as they try to defend for themselves. However, due to the Knights being a bit smaller than the gigantic axe-wielding viruses, their numbers is overwhelming them.

"Good job, Nicole!" Yusei gives a thumb up to Nicole who is hovering next to him.

Nicole has a different appearance. She now wears a purple version of Yusei's Mega Man form, but with a yellow visor and the soles of her feet are keeping her in the air. Hearing Yusei praising her has made her happy.

Then suddenly the Knights are pushing Giant Axes into a straight line, keeping them at bay. It seems Nicole is ordering the Knights to do that.

"They're in position! Yusei, finish them off!"

Yusei nods his head as he pulls out a Battle Card. "Let's see how powerful this Battle Card that I bought is. Battle Card! Break Saber!" He inserts the Battle Card into his Transer and his arm transforms into a long purple laser sword in a spiral that makes it look like a lance.

Yusei flies up and did a loop to dive straight at the lined up viruses with the Break Saber aiming straight at them. The speed at he's going has form a cone from the tip of the blade to his upper body. He pierces through the bodies of the Giant Axe viruses and that causes an explosion that took out the Knights as well.

"Well," Omega-Xis spoke, "that was quick and easy. To think that Nicole's ability of controlling those viruses is pretty useful."

"Though she only controls from low to mid-level viruses," said Yusei, "and not big ones like those Giant Axes. I'm not really sure if the odds will be in our favor against the FMians."

"Um, guys…" Nicole flies over to Yusei as she points her finger at the Satella Police. "Should we get out of here?"

Yusei nods his head. "I guess so. I believe they have taken care of the viruses that were controlling the machines." He notices that the machines have stop moving, which made him feel relief.

The two of them fly off into the sky, which made them off the Satella Police's radar. One of the officers goes up to Detective Copper and gives him his report. His report stated that there are no more viruses and they lost detection of Mega Man's EM Waves. However, the report didn't mention about Nicole's EM Waves; it could mean that they just brush her off as a virus or didn't detect her at all.

Alan, who is overhearing the conversation between the two, decides to make a joke. He jokingly says, "If Mega Man keeps this up, we'll be out of the job."

"This is no time for jokes, Alan." Detective Copper isn't pleased with his jokes as he looks up at the blue sky. "Mega Man…"

Alan knows what is he thinking about since they have a conversation earlier. He leaves Copper alone with his thoughts to check on the citizens near the area.

* * *

An hour later, Yusei and Nicole in their human forms are carrying four grocery bags, which they both are carrying two of the four bags. The two of them are walking back to home. During this time period, the two of them are in a conversation.

"I'm glad that we made it in time to get the groceries before they ran out," said Yusei. "Also, you did good out there, Nicole!"

"I thank you for praising me, Yusei. It's much more satisfying than teasing Junior here."

Then Omega-Xis yells from Yusei's Transer, "Stop calling me that! Or I will delete you with my two bare claws!"

"Uh, don't you mean your 'puppy claws,' Junior," she jokingly comments that made Omega-Xis seethes in rage.

"Okay! That's enough, you two!" Yusei decides to stop them before it escalates to one of them killing each other. "I wish you guys would just get along since we're facing the FMians. And also Nicole, why do you keep teasing Mega by calling him, Junior?"

"I call him that because this guy is the one who drags you into a fight that would most likely kill you!"

Yusei can tell that she's holding back some emotions despite being an AI program. This worries him as he asks, "Nicole, are you feeling regret by any chance?"

Nicole didn't say anything in response to that question. She looks away in hopes that he stops probing for answers.

However, her reaction has made Yusei think that he got it right. "Nicole, I understand how you feel. Remember I give you a robot body before and do you remember what happened afterwards?"

Nicole makes a grim face as she mutters, "I do…"

"That day has also left me with regrets! I… no, we understand our problems! So please don't blame yourself for that event to happen! And besides, I would probably get myself in danger even without Mega's help!"

Nicole pouts despite the fact that she knows Yusei is trying to cheer her up. "How could that last line would make me feel any better?" she made a rude remark.

Yusei chuckles to hear her response. "Now would you be nice to Mega and just be friends with him."

"I'm not making promises, but I'll try… I guess…"

Omega-Xis snorts, "Why I would be friends with this program?"

"We need some allies," said Nicole as she ignores Omega-Xis's words. "Even though our only allies are Proto Man and that mysterious lady you told me about, but I'm more worried about how many FMians are on this planet."

"I agree," Yusei replies, "but let's try our best, okay?"

When they saw Yusei's house, Nicole is the only one to notice the five people waiting in front of it. She gasps when she realizes who those people are. "Hey, isn't that your classmates?" Nicole knows who are Yusei's classmates because he brings her in her handheld form to school before.

Yusei saw the people she's talking about. He saw Geo, Luna, Bud, Zack, and Sonia standing and sitting in front of his house. Though Sonia looks suspicious with her pink hoodie, black sunglasses, and mouth mask. Yusei has this sudden urge to call the police on Sonia because of her suspicious appearance, but resists it as he and Nicole approach them.

He waves at them and shouted, "What are you guys doing in front of my house?"

"Yusei!" everyone gasps when they saw him and they rush towards him.

"Yusei, you're all right?" Luna asks in confusion.

The said boy raises an eyebrow. "What do you mean by that? Of course I'm all—oh… wait a minute…"

Nicole is giggling out of amusement. "I can't believe that you've forgotten about your lie that you just made."

"Shut up, Nicole!"

Luna looks at Yusei with anger as she yells, "Don't tell me that you skip school?" Her yell has gotten Zack and Bud to be afraid.

Nicole steps in between Luna and Yusei as she calmly asks, "Luna, would you please calm down? He has a good reason why he skips school today."

"Can't we continue this conversation inside my house? My arms are getting tired from holding these grocery bags for so long." That is true since his arms are about to give way to drop the bags he's holding.

Sonia quickly grabs hold of the bags before he drops them. "I'll hold onto these bags for you."

Yusei is happy to hear that as he hands her the grocery bags. "Thanks for the help." He quickly unlocks the door and everyone enters the house.

During the time when Yusei is putting away the groceries with Geo and Sonia helping him, Nicole explains to them why Yusei skips school. Everyone is shock to hear about his reason, but this made him or her, except Geo, to be sad. This is the first time they heard about Yusei's parents being dead and they have no idea what to say to him.

Sonia, who has no longer wearing her disguise, looks at Yusei with sadness in her eyes. "Yusei… that incident you mention… it was your parents' death?" she asks. When he looks at her, she gasps, "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to pry!"

Yusei chuckles as he replies, "That's okay. I have my reasons why I didn't tell any of this to you, but I believe that it's better to let it out in the open so we get to know each other." His words have made Sonia happy.

"And Yusei pulls out the 'nice guy' card," Geo happily comments that made that said boy to lightly punch him on his shoulder. "Ow! You don't have to hit me. By the way, why did you choose today to visit their graves? You could have gone on the weekends."

"That does sound like common sense," said Yusei after he's done putting in the last item inside the fridge, "but for some reason I have to go, otherwise I may end up regretting it."

"Sounds like someone has hypnotize you in your sleep or something," Geo jokingly comments.

Then Zack said, "By the way Yusei… who is this girl here?" All eyes turn to Nicole.

"Zack is right. Yusei, what a sly dog you are?" Geo wraps his arm over his friend's shoulder, but it leaves off the impression that he's waiting to put him in a headlock.

Nicole is waiting for Yusei to answer, but then she notices Sonia's face and decides to tease her a bit. She said, "My name is Nicole and I'm Yusei's girlfriend. It's very nice to meet all of you."

A moment fills the room as if time have stop. All eyes just stare at Nicole who is just pleased with her words. No one is saying anything in response to her words until a few clicks has made them break out of their silence.

"What…?" everyone screams loud enough to cause a ringing in Yusei's ears.

Sonia aggressively grabs Yusei by the collar, which releases him from Geo's grip. She looks hysterical, which surprises everyone in the house. "Yusei! I thought you say that you don't date your female friends! Don't tell me that you lie to me?"

This shocks everyone to see an idol to be acting like this, though Nicole is silently laughing to herself out of enjoyment. Yusei is also laughing as he said, "Another side of you that I get to see…! I have to say that you're aggressive side is both cute and nice."

Hearing that from Yusei has gotten her to realize her actions. She lets go of him and looks down at the ground out of embarrassment. She felt like there's steam coming out of her head.

Geo sighs as he mutters, "Does this idiot realize what he had just said?"

"Also Nicole, that's not a very nice thing to say since we're cousins," said Yusei as he tries to reassure everyone that he doesn't have a girlfriend. He also comes up with that lie because he anticipates it as he wants to keep Nicole's existence a secret until the creator allows the Matter Waves to be use by the general public. "Nicole is my cousin who has started living with my sister and I sometime ago. When we started living with my uncle, she stuck with me like glue as a shy little girl she is. I remember that her biggest fear is—"

Nicole quickly runs over to him and covers his mouth to shut him up about something. "Don't you dare say that to your friends," she threatens him. With a single nod, she lets go of his mouth, though Yusei is just smiling as if he got his revenge.

Sonia felt relief of hearing their conversation as she mutters, "I see… their cousins… that's good."

"You guys are so noisy." Ayane, Yusei's sister, appears coming down the stairs with a book in her hand. "Who would've guess we got this many people in our house?"

"Sis!" Yusei gasps. "What are you doing here?"

Ayane took a small sniffle as she answers, "I caught a slight fever and my boss order me to go back home to rest."

She also notices Yusei's classmates as she introduce herself. Luna and the others did the same thing, while Sonia just waves at her.

"Oh my!" Ayane gasps. "Sonia, is that you? I haven't seen you since your collaboration event with Nao!"

Yusei remembers that Ayane did tell him about that event. However, he doesn't know about the problem that Gen has told her. Then he notices the book in Ayane's hands as he recognizes it's light blue design. It's the photo album that he made to catalog the events before his parents' deaths. He had made a second photo album that catalogs the events prior to his move and now he's starting to make a third one.

"I take it that you've been looking back on the past there, sis."

"Huh? Oh yeah… I was walking down memory lane from this photo album that you made. I really love it, Yusei!"

"Photo album?" Geo turns to his friend. "Talk about old school, huh."

Luna asks Ayane for her to have a look at the photo album. At first Ayane is a bit reluctant to do it, but she gives her the photo album. She, Bud, Zack, and Sonia gather together to see its contents. They find it enjoyable to see pictures of the younger version of Yusei and Ayane; some even have them with their parents. But there's one picture in particular that shocks them the most.

That picture is Ayane's idol debut with her winning a singing competition. Their eyes couldn't believe it since they know who that idol is, but the label underneath the picture says, "Ayane's First Win as an Idol." They want to know if that idol and Ayane are indeed the same person.

Luna asks, "Ayane, by any chance are you the famous idol, Shooting Star Heart?"

"I'm amazed that there are people who still remember my old idol alias," she said with a chuckle.

Then Sonia quickly grabs both of Ayane's hands with her eyes sparkling. She shouted, "Can I have your autograph? I'm a huge fan!" Seeing the way she's acting has bewildered her.

Yusei is chuckling from watching this development. "Another side of her that I get to see again. I'm so lucky today!"

Nicole looks at him with disbelief. "You're enjoying this, aren't you?"

Sonia realizes her actions as she quickly retracts her hands away from Ayane's with an embarrass look on her face. She apologizes to her as she explains that she was a huge fan of Ayane during her idol days. Ayane is also her inspiration to sing and become an idol herself. This surprises everyone because this is the first time they heard about Sonia's reason for being an idol; however, Ayane knows the other reason why she's an idol.

Ayane smiles as she replies, "I'm grateful that I'm your inspiration, but my idol days are done so I can't give you my autograph." This saddens Sonia because she really wants her autograph.

Bud moves over to Geo as he asks, "Do you know that she was an idol before?"

Geo nods his head. "The reason why I didn't tell you about this is because I promise Yusei that I won't give him the attention if he ever comes back. If people found out that he's the little brother of the former famous idol, Shooting Star Heart, things would be difficult for him."

Seeing the sadden Sonia has made Ayane to find a way to make her happy. It dawn on her as she happily said, "I can form a Brother-Band with you, if that's okay?"

Sonia is both shock and surprise to hear that coming from _her_ idol. "Y-yes! I'm happy to form a Brother-Band with you!"

"Now, now. There's no need to be nervous now. We're both people, right?"

Sonia understands as the two of them form a Brother-Band via by their Transers. Yusei, who is watching this development, felt some sort of regret because he didn't form a Brother-Band with Sonia just like his sister. He decided not to let this development get to him and just act like his normal self as usual.

"Achoo!" Ayane sneezes, but she covers her mouth with her arm. She sniffles and said, "I'm sorry, but I have to go back to my room to rest. Please continue whatever you guys are doing." She walks up the stairs, but she left a few words to Yusei. "I want to talk to you alone as soon as your friends are gone. It's something about you skipping school today."

Yusei couldn't help but agree with her request since he doesn't want to upset her. "By the way, what are you guys here for?" he asks.

Bud answers, "We came to visit you since we thought you were sick, but you're not. This made our visit pointless."

Luna complains, "Which I can't believe you!" She inflated cheeks with displeasure as Zack and Bud tries to calm her down.

Nicole notices that Sonia isn't paying attention to the situation around her. She watches her to be enamored with her Brother-Band with Ayane. She wants to know how Ayane inspire her to become an idol, so she asks her.

Sonia answers, "It's her songs that inspires me. I happen to hear one of her live songs by chance and her song was so powerful, it made me want to sing along with her. In fact, Shooting Star Heart's songs have inspired me to create a song for my mom's birthday!"

"Really?" Zack gasps. "I didn't know that and I'm the guy who gathers a lot of information."

Yusei refrains from making a rude comment about Zack's ability of gathering information as he finds it a bit too easy for him. "Well, I'm glad to hear that. I bet you're one of those people who were upset by her sudden retirement."

Sonia chuckles as she said, "I was, but her speech made me want to be like her. I want to achieve her dream that she gives up on."

"Which you did since you're a world famous idol," Geo spoke.

"Speaking about her idol job…" Luna pulls out a ticket and gives it to Yusei. "Are you free this weekend?"

"What is this? Is this a ticket to a Sonia concert?"

Luna nods her head with a proud smile on her face. "That's right! We're going to Sonia's concert to support and cheer for her!"

"Aw… Is there a ticket for me as well?" Nicole asks in her sad face.

"I'm sorry, but I only have that one ticket for Yusei."

Hearing that one from Luna has made her sadder, but she knows that she can see the concert in her handheld form. She hopes that Yusei does bring her handheld form to see the concert.

Sonia has been listening in the conversation as she looks at Yusei. "Are you coming to my concert?"

Yusei shrugs as he answers, "Of course I am! Even though I have made some plans for the weekends, I will set those plans next week for your concert! After all, I am your friend!"

Sonia is happy to hear that from him as she thanks him for coming to her concert. However, unbeknownst to the two teenagers, they would eventually be facing each other in a fight of emotions. Would this fight be proven to be the hardest thing for them? Or would this fight be proven with a different result?


	15. I Don't Want To Sing

Disclaimer: I don't own any Battle Cards and Star Force characters. I do own a few original characters.

Chapter 15: I Don't Want To Sing

Sonia woke up in a bed of a hospital room. She raises her upper body with her body feeling groggy for some reason. She wonders how she got into this room, but she then recalls that she collapses during her rehearsal for her upcoming concert. She figures that the cause of her collapse is possibly due to her lack of time to relax and some nights where she studies and such. Despite her little day off a few days ago, her manager has made her schedule a living hell that she doesn't have time to sleep at least. She was okay with her schedule to be like that before, but the accumulation has finally taken a toll on her.

"Sonia! You're awake!" Nao enters the room with a happy smile on her face. "Thank goodness! I was so worried when I heard you were sent into the hospital a few hours ago! How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine," she answers with a smile, "I'm sorry for worrying you."

Nao also explains to Sonia about the events during her sleep in the hospital bed. Gen, Nao's producer, also heard about Sonia's collapse and he went to talk with Chris Gold about this problem. She remembers how fiery mad Gen was before he left to confront with Sonia's producer. Nao has no idea where Gen took Chris for their small talk, but she believes that talk would result in failure for Gen since Chris is kind of a pig-head when it comes to his job.

"I still can't believe that _now_ you collapse after dealing with Chris's scheduling management," said Nao, "though not as much as how Chris is managing your health and such. I even heard rumors about him stealing money from the company through your jobs, but I'm not entirely sure about that."

Sonia made a sad face as she looks out the window. She remembers why she started singing and becoming an idol, but she wonders if her songs are doing anything besides making money. She wanted her songs to touch the hearts of people like how Ayane's songs touch hers and for her mother to know that she's doing okay.

"What are you going to do now, Sonia?" Nao asks and that confuses her. "Your producer's management has put you here in the first place and this is concerning for everyone. I mean if you're boyfriend hear about this, I don't know what he would do!"

"Yusei's not my boyfriend!" Sonia is lucky that no one is in the same room with her has heard that. Her face becomes so red that steam is actually coming out of her face.

Seeing her reaction has made Nao giggle. "Not yet exactly. But seriously, what are you going to do?"

The red hair idol doesn't know what to do. Deep down in her mind and heart, she feels like she's growing tired of her idol status and the sort of "treatment" that she has been getting from her producer. She wants to get away from this idol life and to become a normal girl again, but she couldn't since she would disappoint her fans, friends, and her late mother. Speaking about her friends, she does feel like she's a normal girl again from them, especially when she was talking with Yusei.

"Wait! That's it!" Sonia exclaims out loud as if something dawn on her. "Nao, I need to talk to Yusei! I want to hear his opinion about my decision!"

"Your decision…?"

* * *

Ayane is sleeping in her bed as she dreams of a very nice dream where she fights a bear in close combat for some odd reason. Then her Transer starts beeping so loudly next to her bed, which wakes her up from her dream. It's still too early in the morning because the sun isn't out yet and the clock shows that it's three in the morning. She checks her Transer and it turns out to be an email from Sonia.

"What does she want?" Ayane murmurs as she checks the contents of the email. She quickly reads over them and she is quite surprise at Sonia's request. "She wants to meet Yusei at Vista Point today at ten in the morning…? Doesn't her concert start at an hour after that? Oh well… it's her life and she is old enough to make her decisions."

She gets up from her bed and out the room. The young woman walks over to the door of a room that Yusei has been using as his workshop. Ayane knows Yusei's habits pretty well as she believes that her little brother woke up earlier to work on some other projects since Nicole is back and all. He does have some left over junkyard parts for creating Nicole's Matter Wave body. She knocks on the door to only see that Nicole to be the one who answers it.

"Ayane!" Nicole exclaims. "Yusei is busy right now… if you have anything to say to him, I'll be sure to relay the message to him as soon as he took his break."

Still feeling drowsy, Ayane just tells Nicole the message she got from Sonia's email. After telling her that, she heads back to her room to go back to sleep until her alarm wakes her three hours later.

Nicole closes the workshop's door and she is alone in the room as she places two fingers over her right ear. "Yusei, did you hear that?" she said as if she's talking through a headset microphone.

"Yeah, I can hear my sister's voice from your end," Yusei responds.

At the Wave Road outside of Yusei's house is Yusei in his Mega Man form. He is talking to Nicole via Transer and he heard their conversation from his Matter Wave partner's ears. He built in wireless communication into Nicole's system during the development, just in case of situations like his sister looking for him while he is away happened.

"I'm quite surprise that Sonia has sent an email to my sister saying that she wants to meet with me," he said, "I wonder what could be important that got me involved…"

"Could it be about the concert?" Nicole asks because she is concern about Sonia's reason.

Yusei shook his head. "I doubt that. That girl has experience about being on stage in front of thousands or millions of people. I guess I should go meet her and see what's up." Then he change the subject by saying, "By the way, the test was a success."

Nicole knows what Yusei is talking about as she talks in a more happy tone. "So your under-armor works? You didn't feel any pain in your EM Wave form?"

"Nope! My under-armor was able to transfer the pain that I received into my stamina. I may feel exhaustion after a few numbers of battles, but I won't be showing any visible signs of pain whenever I'm out of my Mega Man form."

Yusei uses some of the left over junkyard parts to create a special under-armor so that his body won't be harmed during a fight in his EM Wave form and human form. The under-armor protects his body from EM Wave attacks with the exchange of stamina; however, he still feels the sensation of pain, it's just that his bones won't break, his internal organs won't be punctured, and his skin won't show signs of injury because of the under-armor's protection. He still needs to figure out how long his under-armor would last in battle, but due to the weak viruses in the area, he has a hard time to find out. Yusei is okay with the results and even though he doesn't know long his under-armor would last in a fight that he should be careful, as he doesn't want to take a risk.

"That's good!" Nicole shouts through Yusei's Transer. "Don't you dare risk your life just because of your curiosity! If you do, then how will I explain to your sister if you die, huh?"

Yusei made a slight chuckle and he spoke, "You make it sound like I always put my life in danger before I've become Mega Man."

Nicole responds to his word by saying that he does. Apparently whenever he has an experiment and/or invention that requires a human help in order to be test their safety he always puts himself as the guinea pig. The reason for that is because he couldn't risk other people for the testing since he doesn't like to be responsible if something were to happen to them. So Yusei tests them on himself and some of the testing does harm him, which causes Ayane, Nicole, and some of Yusei's friends to worry.

Hearing this has surprise Omega-Xis as he comments, "Guess that explains why Yusei's thought process is weird."

"Shut up, Mega!" Yusei retorts, "We don't need your snarky comment."

"Just promise me that you keep yourself safe during your fight, okay?" Nicole asks. "Also come back inside since you're done testing."

Yusei warps back inside the house and out of his Mega Man form. Nicole disappears into the Mini Terminal and the teenage boy grabs it as he went back to his room for a short nap. Two hours later, his alarm woke him up and he went to the kitchen to make some breakfast.

* * *

As time passes onto ten minutes before Yusei's meeting with Sonia, that said teenage boy arrive. He is standing in front of the stairs that leads up to Vista Point. He becomes hesitant to walk up the stairs because he's afraid of what Sonia wants, thus his hesitance turn into his nervousness. He paces back and forth, pondering on the thought if he believes it's okay for him to meet her without Luna and the others. Yusei felt that it's unfair for him to be the only one who is talking to a famous idol and he wonders if his friends would hate him for that.

Then someone covers Yusei's eyes from behind. "Okay, now who's covering my eyes? I swear this sort of cliché is getting really old." That causes the perpetrator to remove his/her hands out of his eyes.

"Someone use that cliché on you before?" a girl who speaks in a familiar prideful tone asks.

The teenage boy turns around and he sees Luna with Bud, Zack, and Geo standing behind her. He is surprise to see them here and he wonders why they're here, so he asks them. Apparently they were about to surprise Yusei by going to his house and they happen to see him walking out of his house. They follow him out of sheer curiosity and they watch the way he is acting.

"So why are you here?" Bud asks.

Yusei explains to them that Sonia has sent an email to her sister asking for him to meet her in Vista Point. He even told them about his nervousness of what Sonia wants and he worries if Luna and the others would hate him for this meeting without them.

"Of course we don't hate you," says Luna to reassure him about their friendship. She turns to her male friends and asks, "Is that right, guys?"

The boys agree with her, which made Yusei felt relief. Yusei decided to bring them to the meeting since he no longer feels nervous with them around. When they got up the stairs to Vista Point, they see Sonia and Nao, who are in their disguises and Sonia is the only one with a bag, sitting on a bench together. The two idols notice Yusei with the others and they just greet them.

"Yusei!" Nao calls out his name. "I'm glad you came, but who are they?" After a brief introduction of Luna and her friends, Nao couldn't believe it. "Why you brought them here? You were supposed to come here alone!"

"But the email that Sonia sent to my sister didn't say that I have to come alone." Yusei points out and Nao asks Sonia for confirmation.

Sonia confirms the email stating that she didn't write in about Yusei being alone to meet her. Nao isn't pleased with the situation that is happening, but she lets it slide because of a bigger issue. That issue is about the reason why Sonia wants to meet with Yusei.

Everyone looks at Sonia and they listen what she has to say. She says, "I don't want to sing."

Yusei nods his head. "Yeah, and…?"

"Um, that's it. I don't want to sing anymore and I want to hear your opinion."

"Oh, you don't want sing, eh." He chuckles for a bit, but he quickly becomes silent.

Everyone screams in shock to hear that coming from a world-famous idol. They couldn't believe that an idol doesn't want to sing, especially the one who has a concert that is coming up soon. Zack asks about her reason, but Yusei stops the conversation because he doesn't want to continue it out in the open. He points out if they continue the conversation here, word would get out to the public and they would be taken out of context. Yusei suggests that they should continue the conversation somewhere they're not outside and Geo spoke about his home.

"My home?" Yusei tilts his head. "What about my home?"

Geo answers, "Your house is close to here and it's an ideal place for us to continue our talk. Bud, Zack, and my houses can only be reach via bus travel, which a lot of people ride nowadays. And Luna's place is not a good idea since her parents don't like any visitors for some reason. Trust me, they don't even let us study together in her place."

Luna made a sad face when she heard Geo say that, but she agrees with him. Her parents aren't exactly sunshine and rainbows due to them being successful in their business. Despite her strained relationship with them, she still loves her parents and she would become their wishful, perfect daughter who would succeed them when she grows up. Yusei knows about Luna's parents via from his friend, Sophie McDowell and he understands what Geo means.

"Fine, we'll go to my house to continue this topic. Is that fine with you two idols?"

The two idol girls nod their heads with Nao saying, "I've heard that Sonia once come to your house and this would be my first time being in a boy's house."

Sonia turns to Nao and said, "You don't need to admit that."

Everyone leaves Vista Point and head towards Yusei's house. During that time, Nao and Sonia try their best to cover their faces from the people that they're passing by. They enter his house and sitting on the chairs and couch in the living room while Yusei serves them drinks. Before the conversation from earlier, Yusei checks around the house to make sure no one outside is listening in on them, but that shows how paranoid he is. He's done checking the place for a few minutes and the conversation continues.

Luna politely asks, "What do you mean that you don't want to sing, Sonia?"

Sonia explains to them about her collapse before. She told them that she hasn't been getting a time to rest due to her producer's management. It's pretty much recent that her schedule gotten an overload with work, which she believes comes from that day off of work earlier. But her collapse has made her think whether she wants to continue her fame or just quit. The reason behind the meeting is to ask Yusei for his opinion and maybe to give her an answer.

Hearing her explanation has made everyone silent. No one can say a word to Sonia, even though they want to give her their answer or opinion. All eyes turn to Yusei since he is in his deep thinking mode. But Yusei is a bit hesitant to say anything; he usually says some provoking words to make people realize something, but upon her explanation he has nothing to say including kind words. He tries to think some words on the spot, which is difficult for him. That is until he remembers his sister's idol days and thought that he should use that to help Sonia to find her own answer.

He broke the silence by asking, "Is your idol job fun?" Everyone is confused by that question. He continues, "My sister long time ago became an idol because she finds it fun. She never took her job too seriously and just straight up enjoys it. Ayane as Shooting Star Heart enjoys making people smile and happy; she has this some sort of shine that got people to act like that. So I wonder if you find your job to be fun just like my sister did."

Sonia is surprise to hear that information about his sister. Though she does remember that shine Yusei talks about in one of his sister's live concerts. "That's an interesting thing to ask of me, Yusei. I thought you're going to say some provoking words, telling me that I'm an idiot of some sort."

"I'm not that mean…!" Yusei pouts, even though he knows that is true. "I do use harsh words on people like Luna before, but your story dumbfounds me. But I don't want you to ask me for answers! So that question I gave you would be your homework and I hope you can find your answer."

"But aren't you at least upset about me thinking of quitting my idol job? Aren't you looking forward to my concert?"

Yusei flicks her forehead without hesitation. "Don't make me repeat myself! The person I'm looking at is you as Sonia Strumm the person not Sonia Strumm the idol! No matter what is your decision, I would always support you as your friend!"

Sonia's cheeks flush a bit red, as she felt happy to hear Yusei say that. But deep down, she feels something more with Yusei, though she doesn't want to say it. If she did, Nao would just tease her. Too late for that since Nao's eyes are sparkling because of what Yusei had said.

"Isn't that great, Sonia?" Nao happily asks. "Now I see why you have your eyes on him!"

The red hair girl's face flush bright red that reach up to her ears. Feeling embarrass, Sonia retaliates by covering her friend's mouth, which Nao keeps avoiding. Everyone in the room sees Sonia's reaction and they gasp in shock; Bud and Zack are heartbroken, Geo develops a desire to hit his friend, and Luna wants to know the details. Yusei is silently watching what is happening and he finds what he sees as entertainment. But he needs to stop this because they're getting off subject on the whole situation.

"Can we get back on subject, please?" Yusei asks and everyone goes quiet to listen what he has to say. "What are you going to do now, Sonia? You said that you don't want to sing and I'm worried if you're producer would start going on a rampage through the city looking for you."

Nao becomes the person to answer Yusei's question. "Sonia was hoping that she would hide in your place for a while."

"Are you pouring oil into the fire that you started?" Yusei glares at Nao as he feels displease. Sonia didn't say anything as she felt embarrass that her friend says those things.

Everyone wants to retort Nao's statement, but they couldn't since Nao doesn't know them very well. Even though Sonia told her about them, she didn't meet them directly like she did with Yusei. Her eyes can tell that they're good people, but she knows that she couldn't trust them very well.

"Why can't she stay at your place?" Luna asks, hoping to convince Nao to reconsider the offer.

Nao shook her head. "My place would be the one of the top ten things that Mr. Gold would look! And I can't risk my grandmother dealing with him!" Nao lives with her kind grandmother since she was five-years-old. Her parents are military people and they sometimes come for special family get-togethers like birthdays, holidays, etc.

Yusei wants to suggest one of his friends to take the offer, but he stops and thinks about them for a second. He couldn't trust Bud and Zack into taking care of Sonia due to them being fans of her and he has no idea what they would do with her if they're alone with her. Luna's place is out of the question since her parents are a bit, in his words, "snobbish." So the only option is between him and Geo, which he trusts Geo completely since he knows him very well.

However, Geo knows what Yusei is about to say. At first he does feel a bit happy, but he doesn't want to take the responsibility of hiding the famous idol in his home. Also seeing Sonia's reaction has made Geo to let his friend to take responsibility instead of dumping it on him.

"Yusei, I know what you're going to say," said Geo, "but I can't have an idol at my house, there's just no room. Your house though… it has plenty of rooms for her to stay. Also you can't simply ignore a lady in trouble now, do you?"

Yusei sighs in disbelief. "I understand that you don't like me dumping the responsibilities onto you, but…" He looks at Nao and he remembers their conversation about how she would be placing her trust into him being friends with Sonia. He knows that he couldn't break that trust. "Fine, she can stay. But does she have any spare clothing?"

"Y-Yes!" Sonia responded as she shows Yusei her backpack. "My clothes are in this bag, so you don't need to worry." Nao is giving Sonia a thumb up and Sonia reacts by feeling embarrass.

Yusei ignores what's going on to Sonia's side and he said, "Since the concert is cancelled today, what are you guys going to do with your free time? I'm going to spend my time helping Sonia to get adjusted in my care."

"What do you mean by that?" Bud asks.

"I want her to do some work for me in the house. I don't like random people, even though they're my friends, living in my place for free. At least it lessens the workload that Nicole and I have been doing."

Nao told them that she has to go since she has work soon. Luna decides to take the boys with her shopping spree, but since Yusei is busy, she has to take the other boys. Geo and the others felt a bit angry with Yusei because he has found an easy way out of Luna's offer. Everyone has left the house, leaving Yusei and Sonia alone.

"Now that was interesting," said Nicole who appears next to Yusei, which surprises the idol.

"Where do you come from?" Sonia asks as she looks around to see where Nicole was hiding.

Yusei explains to her about Nicole and he decides to tell her the truth since she will be living in his house. He doesn't want things to be awkward between his friends because Nicole can appear like she did earlier. Sonia couldn't believe that Nicole is not really a person, but an artificial intelligence program that is given a body made of Matter Waves. However, after showing how she appears, the idol ends up believing it and the fact that he and Tama made the parts for Nicole's Matter Wave body. She also wonders if it's okay for her to be the only to know the truth about his Matter Wave friend.

"Well, you're hiding here for a while," said Yusei, "Just keep it a secret because I don't want the school to think I'm a genius despite how good I am with machines and programs."

After their discussion, Yusei and Nicole take Sonia to the guest room. That room was supposed to be a spare room just in case if Yusei or Ayane's room are renovating due to unforeseen damages. When Sonia dumps her bag in the room, Yusei asks her if she's good at doing some housework, which she responds that she use to help her mom before she becomes an idol. He felt reassure that she can help him and Nicole with the housework when they're gone to get groceries. Yusei then notice Sonia's reaction when she mentions her mother, but he chose not to explore it as he decides to find some housework for her to do tomorrow.

Sonia watches Yusei leaving the room as she notices that she is alone with Nicole who is watching her with a smile. She feels awkward being alone with someone that she finds out that person isn't a real person. The idol has no idea how to deal with a person like Nicole and wonders what she should do to break the ice between them. She looks around the room to notice that there's a TV with a DVD player at the opposite end of the room where her bed is, but she can't use that as a topic to talk about. That is until she decides to use Yusei as a starting point to be friends with the Matter Wave girl. She also hopes that she may learn something about the boy so she can get close to him.

The idol asks, "How long have you been with Yusei?"

"Since his seventh birthday," Nicole answers, "that is after his parents' death."

Sonia reacts sadly from those last words. She remember when she found out that Yusei lost his parents and he never wants to talk about it with her or any of their friends, besides Geo. It doesn't feel right for her if she pries the information from Nicole without Yusei's permission. Her curiosity about Yusei's parents is causing her stress as she wonders why Yusei doesn't act like her when he told her that he doesn't want pry any information.

Nicole notices her stress as she quickly changes the subject to help her to relax. She said, "Yusei has listen to your songs and he really loves them."

"Huh? He did?"

Nicole nodded. "Since I'm connected to Yusei's Transer, I know the data he stored in it and some of those data are your songs. When I ask him about it, he told me that he felt bad of not knowing you and he listens to your songs. He even plays your songs when he's busy with the housework or projects."

Sonia is happy to hear that Yusei likes her songs. She wrote most of the songs and she does got a lot of praise from people, but praise from Yusei is different. She doesn't know why it's different, it just is.

"However," Nicole spoke, "your recent songs have gotten him worried about you."

"My recent s-songs?" she stutters in confusion.

Nicole explains to her that Yusei listens to her recent songs and he notices a hint of sadness underneath the upbeat music. Since Ayane was an idol, she often takes the young Yusei with her to her rehearsals and recordings. It was because of those experiences have develop Yusei to understand the singer's emotion when they're singing to know that they truly express themselves. This sort of technique helps Yusei to understand more about the singer and their reason why they're singing they make music. Ayane also develop this sort of technique because of her experience and she used it to help the idols she works with before.

"So Yusei found sadness in my songs," Sonia pouts when she says that.

Nicole responds to the sad Sonia by petting her head. "Take your time… You don't need to tell him now."

Seeing her smile has warm Sonia's heart as she smiles out of reassurance. Then Nicole heads up to the closet and open the door to find a few numbers of boxes. Among those boxes has a label "Idol Stuff" and she opens it to find hardcover DVDs of Ayane's idol days. She takes one of the DVDs out and gives it to Sonia. The idol wonders what DVD she gives her as she looks it to see that it's a compilation DVD of Ayane's live concerts. Why Nicole is giving her this?

"Remember the homework that Yusei has given you," said Nicole as if she's reminding Sonia about the conversation earlier. "Watch this as a reference point of your homework. Good luck!" Nicole leaves the room, leaving Sonia to watch the DVD by herself.

Nicole enters Yusei's room to find the boy on his computer. Yusei notices her entering his room and greets her.

"What are you doing?" she asks. "I thought you were working on what sort of housework Sonia needs to do."

"I already finish it," he answers, "I'm just looking up on this Chris Gold person. It seems like this guy has a history of having idols quit their jobs due to his management, but Sonia is the only one who can handle it until now. I wonder why this guy create such an insane schedule."

"Have you sent a message to your sister about the situation?" Nicole asks.

"I did and she replies that she's going to give me the full story about Sonia's problem. To think that my sister has know something before the situation happen… She has an amazing luck…!"

Then the two start debating on what the course of action they should take to help Sonia. Yusei suggested hacking into Chris Gold's personal life to find out the reason behind Sonia's schedule, but Nicole retorts that it's risky since they don't know what kind of security program that the producer is using to protect his personal information. Nicole suggests that they should ask Alan for help, but Yusei doesn't want the Satella Police to be involve in an impossible goose chase, especially where people need to find evidence and they don't know how careful is this Chris Gold person. They argue over their suggestions with both sides not backing down and during their argument is Omega-Xis sleeping in the Transer because he doesn't care what they're talking about. An hour of arguing has gone by and they decide to continue this debate another time because Yusei has to make lunch.

* * *

Meanwhile at the guest room that Sonia is occupying, that said idol is watching the DVD out of curiosity. When she watches the video of Ayane singing in front of a small to large audience, she sees this inspiring shine that she first saw a long time ago. She remembers that Yusei points out differences between Ayane's performances with Sonia's current performance and she does see it, feel it even. Ayane does look she's having fun performing in front of people and she expresses her feelings into each of the songs no matter the genre; she can express happiness in a cheery song and then express sadness in a melancholic song. She pauses the video to listen to her recent songs because she remembers that Yusei has found a hint of sadness in those songs. She listens to them, but she didn't find the sadness in them because she only hears her upbeat singing voice. The idol felt confuse about why Yusei has given this sort of homework to her, as she wants to know the answer of her problem of continuing to be an idol.

"Mom…" she mutters. "What should I do? If only you were here…" She lies on top of the bed and sadly looks up at the ceiling as she thinks of what her late mother would say to her.

Then a knock on the door has got her attention. Following from that knock is a voice that said, "It's me, Nicole. I came to tell you that Yusei has made lunch. Please come down."

Sonia complies as she follows Nicole down the stairs. She becomes surprise to see the food that Yusei has served, which is potato soup with bread on the side. Yusei told her that he has this sort of craving for soup and he decides to make it for their lunch. The idol thanks him for the meal and they begin to eat. When she tastes the soup, her eyes become wide in surprise of how good the taste of the soup is. She felt that her taste buds is bursting like fireworks because of how good the soup is.

"This soup is amazing…!" she unintentionally spoke out loud.

"I'm glad that satisfies your taste," said Yusei who is just casually eating his food.

"I never have soup this good before! I feel that my wasted, sad life have been rejuvenated by the power of your soup!" she said in an exaggerated tone that she musters quickly.

Yusei smile twitches, as he didn't expect his cooking to be that good. "My friends complimented my cooking before, but I never have that sort of compliment being said to me. The only one who acted normal to my cooking is my sister… Well, as long as my food make you happy, then I'm okay with any compliment no matter how ridiculous it is."

They finish their meals with Sonia finishing three bowls of soup and Yusei only finishes two bowls. Sonia is watching TV in the living room with a satisfied look on her face and Nicole sitting next to her, while Yusei is washing the dishes. Then the house phone rings and Nicole quickly picks it up.

"Hello," she politely said, "This is the Light's residence. My name is Nicole and who is this that I'm speaking to?"

The person at the other end of the phone said, "My name is Kevin Stelar. Can I speak to Yusei Light, please? It's an emergency."

"I understand." She covers the speaker with one hand and calls Yusei's name. She hands him the phone as soon as he approaches as she tells him that it's Kevin and he wants to speak with him.

"Hey, Kevin! Why are you calling me?"

Kevin answers, "It's about the anti-gravity machine…"

"You want me to fix it, is that true?" he asks in a groan tone. Kevin did tell him that it's true, which made him groan even more. "I swear your coworkers are… Fine, I'll be there as soon as I can. Just be sure to shut down the exhibit and remove all of the innocent bystanders." He hangs up the phone and he made a dissatisfied face that causes Sonia to worry.

"What's wrong?"

Yusei looks at Sonia as he musters up the strength to put on a gentle smile on his face. "It's nothing. Geo's dad calls for my help and I have to go. Sonia, I want you to stay here and—"

"I'm coming with you!" she exclaims without any hesitation.

The teenage boy tilts his head. "You have no reason to come with me and it's not like you'll be alone since Nicole is staying here. Also, aren't you supposed to be hiding from your producer?"

"I know, but I feel that I'm not safe without you. Even if Nicole is with me, that feeling would never go away and…" She pauses her saying as she realizes what she spills in front of Yusei and Nicole. The idol couldn't believe what she has said and she covers her red, embarrass face in her hands screaming, "Please forget what I just said!"

Yusei blankly stares at the embarrass idol and Nicole is holding back her laugh because of the idol's unknowing confession. "Fine, you can come," said Yusei with a smile and that made Sonia happy, but she is still embarrassed. "But you need a better disguise. A disguise that no one would expect that it's you."

Then Nicole suggested, "Why not Elena's costume that she wore for Halloween last year? I'm sure that costume would fit Sonia's current size."

Yusei agrees with the suggestion and Nicole takes Sonia upstairs. After about thirty minutes, the two girls came down with Sonia in her new clothes. Sonia looks like a newspaper boy with cap the covering her hair. Looking at her would make people think that she's a cute boy and not a famous female idol. The idol blankly stares at the teenage boy as if she's judging him about how he has a costume that belongs from a girl named Elena in his possession.

He responds by saying, "Blame Sophie…"

During the thirty-minute time gap, Nicole explains to the idol about how he got the costume. She told her that Sophie has sent a package to him and that package contains his friends' costumes from last year with a letter explaining why this package was sent to him. The reason why Sophie sent him the costumes because she wants to make sure that Yusei won't forget his friends from Harmony Town. Yusei and Nicole couldn't believe this sort of randomness from their rich friend, but they shouldn't be surprise since they know her very well. Even after hearing this, Sonia is still being judgmental.

"Will you stop looking at me with judgment in your eyes?" Yusei asks with a face that shows he hates someone judging him because he has these costumes in his possession.

Sonia stops judging him and she started giggling because she finds it amusing to see his reaction. "I'm sorry about that, Yusei. Let's just say that's payback for the things that you've done to me."

"What have I done to you that you would act like that?"

"That's a secret!" She winks at him and that causes him to sigh in disbelief.

Yusei takes Sonia out of the house with Nicole following them. The reason why she follows them is because "the more, the merrier" and she want to make sure that the general public doesn't recognize Sonia in her disguise. The teenagers allow her to come as they all get on the bus to AMAKEN.


End file.
